Individual Mandate is Unconstitutional and a Threat to Liberty says Ilya Somin

A Supreme Court ruling upholding the individual mandate "will really be, if not a death blow, then certainly a very severe blow to the whole idea that the federal government's powers are limited and that it's not the case that the federal government can do pretty much whatever it wants," says George Mason University law professor Ilya Somin, author of an amicus brief in U.S Department of Health and Human Services v. Florida, a challenge to the Affordable Care Act that the Supreme Court is scheduled to hear later this month.

Reason.tv sat down with Somin to discuss why his brief focuses on the individual mandate, what the chances of success are, and whether or not a mandate to buy insurance could empower Congress to pass a mandate that all Americans buy a health food like broccoli.

"There's a lot of industries that have a lot of lobbying power and interest group clout that could promote mandates for themselves," says Somin.

About 9:30 minutes. Interview by Zach Weissmueller. Camera by Tracy Oppenheimer, Paul Detrick, and Sharif Matar. Edited by Weissmueller.

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