Constitutional Point of Order Against the Healthcare Bill. During consideration of the healthcare bill (H.R. 3590), Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.) raised a point of order that the mandate that individuals purchase health insurance is unconstitutional because it falls outside the scope of the enumerated powers in Article I, Section 8, of the Constitution, and because it violates the Fifth Amendment’s ban on taking private property for public use “without just compensation.”
The Senate rejected Ensign’s constitutional point of order against the healthcare legislation on December 23, 2009 by a vote of 39-60 (Roll Call 389). We have assigned pluses to the yeas because requiring Americans to buy a particular product — health insurance in this instance — is both unconstitutional and an abridgment of economic freedom. The same day, the Senate also rejected by 39-60 a point of order raised by Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison that the legislation violates the 10th Amendment.
