Health and Human Services v. Florida
The Court Upholds Health Care Reform
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services v. Florida was featured in Health Care Reform, Supreme Court Debates (May 2012). The following is excerpted from the summary of the majority opinion written by Chief Justice Roberts, as prepared by the Court Reporter of Decisions: The Constitution grants Congress the power to “regulate Commerce.” The power to regulate commerce presupposes the existence of commercial activity to be regulated. This Court’s precedent reflects this understanding: As expansive as this Court’s cases construing the scope of the commerce power have been, they uniformly describe the power as reaching “activity.” The individual mandate, however,…