Right to Healthcare, but No Right to Pay For It?

The Supreme Court’s deliberations on the Affordable Care Act (ACA) have been portrayed as a flashpoint for competing visions of America’s federal system, enumerated powers, economic liberty and social policy. The outcome of the case no doubt involves very high stakes on all of these issues.

But perhaps the most astonishing and disturbing aspect of the case has been the apparent common ground among the Obama administration, the states and other parties challenging the law, and most of the Supreme Court Justices. The implications are potentially more troubling for the future of economic liberty than the individual mandate itself.