My favorite passage of Judge Roger Vinson's ruling finding ObamaCare unconstitutional is this one, rejecting the federal government's claim that the health care market is somehow unique:
After all, there are lots of markets --- especially if defined broadly enough --- that people cannot "opt out" of. For example, everyone must participate in the food market. Instead of attempting to control wheat supply by regulating the acreage and amount of wheat a farmer could grow as in Wickard, under this logic, Congress could more directly raise too low wheat prices merely by increasing demand through mandating that every adult purchase and consume wheat bread daily, rationalized on the grounds that because everyone must participate in the market for food, non-consumers of wheat bread adversely affect prices in the wheat market. Or, as was discussed during oral argument, Congress could require that people buy and consume broccoli at regular intervals, not only because the required purchases will positively impact interstate commerce, but also because people who eat healthier tend to be healthier, and are thus more productive and put less of a strain on the health care system. Similarly, because virtually no one can be divorced from the transportation market, Congress could require that everyone above a certain income threshold buy a General Motors automobile --- now partially government-owned --- because those who do not buy GM cars (or those who buy foreign cars) are adversely impacting commerce and a taxpayer-subsidized business.
I pause here to emphasize that the foregoing is not an irrelevant and fanciful "parade of horribles." Rather, these are some of the serious concerns implicated by the individual mandate that are being discussed and debated by legal scholars.
