Friday, November 19, 2010

Three more amicus briefs filed in Florida v. HHS

The District Court for the Northern District of Florida has just docketed three more amicus curiae briefs in Florida v. HHS. One was filed by the Family Research Council (available here) in support of the states. Two are in support of the United States: one filed by the American Nurses Association (available here) and one by a group of economic scholars (available here). The point of the economic scholars' brief (which includes a rather impressive list of economists, including three Nobel laureates) is to explain why the decision whether to purchase health insurance is not "passive inactivity" but an "economic decision" with significant effects on interstate commerce, and that the market for health insurance is economically unique, such that upholding the minimum coverage provision would not open the door to Congress mandating the purchase of all sorts of goods and services as means to regulating interstate commerce.