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Nfib V. Sibelius: Proportionality In The Exercise Of Congressional Power, David Orentlicher

David Orentlicher

With its opinion on the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), the U.S. Supreme Court sparked much discussion regarding the implications of the case for other federal statutes. In particular, scholars have debated the significance of the Court’s recognition of an anti-coercion limit to the Spending Clause power.

When it recognized an anti-coercion limit for ACA’s Medicaid expansion, the Court left considerable uncertainty as to the parameters of that limit. This essay sketches out one valuable and very plausible interpretation of the Court’s new anti-coercion principle. It also indicates how this new principle can address a long-standing problem with …