How the Gun-Free School Zones Act Saved the Individual Mandate

Abstract:     
The PPACA's individual mandate would be considerably more vulnerable to commerce-clause attack if United States v. Lopez had never been decided. To be sure, Lopez stands for the proposition that the commerce power is limited. But both as a matter of common-law process and as a matter of constitutional discourse, Lopez has helped create the conditions under which this particular exercise of the commerce power is easy to validate as constitutional.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 9

Keywords: PPACA, Individual mandate, commerce clause, commerce power, United States v. Lopez, federalism

JEL Classification: K20

Accepted Paper Series