Historic Supreme Courts--Obamacare (thread 8): Episode 5: The Fuller Court vs. Obamacare: How 19th‑Century Judges Would Have Said No

Picture a Supreme Court that thought 'freedom' was basically the right to sign any deal, even if it hurt people. The Fuller Court treated health as a private market problem and would have seen Obamacare as an unconstitutional interference, not a lifesaving reform.

They’d stress the liberty of contract, downplay interstate reach, and shrug at illness as mere misfortune rather than a public concern. It’s a sharp reminder of how much constitutional thinking can shape whether a law protects people or protects markets.