FreedomWorks’ Constitution Defense Fund Files Supreme Court Legal Brief to Declare Obamacare Unconstitutional

WASHINGTON, DC- FreedomWorks took the fight for a patient-centered health care system all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court today, filing a friend-of-the-court legal brief and releasing a video strongly arguing for the unconstitutionality of Obamacare. The Supreme Court is currently considering the constitutional status of President Obama’s individual mandate, which forces all Americans to purchase a government-controlled health care plan.

FreedomWorks and its new arm, the Constitution Defense Fund, strongly believe the Obama health care mandate is an unprecedented and intolerable infringement of our liberties. The legal brief provides the nine Justices with a detailed explanation of exactly how the health care mandate unconstitutionally burdens individual liberty.

“In the eyes of the Founders, the idea of a mandated good or service would be a non-starter,” reasoned Dean Clancy, VP of Health Care Policy at FreedomWorks. “Polls show that today’s Americans don’t feel much differently. A two-thirds majority of Americans support the repeal of the individual mandate.”

In partnership with the HSA Coalition, the Constitution Defense Fund also provided the Court with credible evidence that the President’s health care law will destroy affordable insurance options, including consumer-driven health plans and Health Savings Accounts (HSAs).

“It comes down to the math,” explained Clancy. “A new study by Milliman, Inc., demonstrates that consumer-driven health care is doomed under ObamaCare. The FreedomWorks-HSA Coalition brief is the only one to contain this legally relevant information.”

The legal brief takes the individual mandate one step further than most, arguing that even if the Court should somehow find that Congress has the power to make Americans buy a private product, it should still strike the law down as an unduly burdensome exercise of that power. As explained in the brief:

By eliminating high-deductible (i.e., low-premium) consumer-driven health care plans, [ObamaCare] eliminates a key option available to individuals when they make personal health care decisions.  The aggressive constitutional posture of the [Act] will aggressively restrict individual liberty.

The brief concludes: 

The Act takes one small step from regulation to direction of commerce, but one giant leap for governmental power over the life and health of every American. Its real consequence for individuals making health care decisions is sharply restricted personal choice and a substantial infringement of individual liberty.

Matt Kibbe, President of FreedomWorks added, “Obamacare is every bit as ‘intolerable’ as the infamous intolerable acts of King George III that provoked the Boston Tea Party. However the Justices decide, our grassroots network will be fighting in the courts, in Congress, and at the ballot box to make sure 2012 is the last year of Obamacare.”

The Constitution Defense Fund promotes limited government and the protection of civil liberties by advocating for America’s founding constitutional principles in the public arena. The Fund is a project of FreedomWorks Foundation, a § 501(c)(3) nonprofit, nonpartisan organization with more than one million members dedicated to the principles of individual liberty and economic freedom. The Foundation educates citizens about and promotes constitutionally limited government and the adoption of free-market policies that inure to the benefit of consumers and citizens generally, including the establishment of a patient-centered health care system.

FreedomWorks and the Constitution Defense Fund expect the Supreme Court to hear oral arguments in late March, and to publish its decision in late June. The case is HHS vs. Florida, No. 11-398. To get involved in the campaign to repeal and replace Obamacare, visit www.FreedomWorks.org or contact Dean Clancy at DClancy@FreedomWorks.org.

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