Dealing a setback to the Obama administration, a federal judge in Harrisburg has struck down several provisions of the Affordable Care Act after concluding that the law’s “individual mandate” is an unconstitutional extension of Congress’s authority under the Commerce Clause.
“The issue is whether Congress can invoke its Commerce Clause power to compel individuals to buy insurance as a condition of lawful citizenship or residency,” U.S. District Judge Christopher C. Conner wrote in his 53-page opinion in Goudy-Bachman v. United States .
