Historic Supreme Courts--Obamacare, Episode 2: Taney vs. Obamacare: A Constitutional Showdown

This episode imagines Chief Justice Roger B. Taney confronting the Affordable Care Act and explains why, in his constitutional framework, the ACA would be unconstitutional. It outlines Taney's limited view of federal power, his narrow reading of the Commerce and Taxing Clauses, and his defense of state police powers and individual liberty.

Through historical context and key decisions like Dred Scott and the License Cases, the episode shows how Taney's commitment to state sovereignty and freedom from federal compulsion would lead him to reject the individual mandate, Medicaid expansion coercion, and other core features of Obamacare.