Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), a ranking member of the Subcommittee on the Constitution, sits down with “Viewpoint” host Eliot Spitzer to discuss the ramifications of the Supreme Court’s decision to uphold the Affordable Care Act.
Nadler explains how landmark laws such as Social Security and Medicare were passed during an era when the Supreme Court favored a more expansive interpretation of Congress’ power according to the Constitution, following a power shift in 1937 relating to President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s efforts to implement New Deal programs. Spitzer warns that the more narrow grounds on which the Affordable Care Act was decided could signify a new “turning point” for the Supreme Court.
Nadler concurs: “The right wing has been saying for a long time — and they’ve been talking about the so-called ‘Constitution in exile’ — the last 70 years of constitutional law are wrong and we ought to go back to the way it was before 1937. And depending who’s elected president, and therefore future Supreme Court appointments, you could look at this decision in the future and say this is where we started going backwards.”
