Renegotiating the social contract: Healthcare as a natural right

University of Pittsburgh Law Review

Volumn 72, Issue 3, 2011, Pages 549-596

  Fahnestock, Jennifer ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH   (United States)

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[No Author keywords available]

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EID: 80155208327     PISSN: 00419915     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.5195/LAWREVIEW.2011.165     Document Type: Review

References (79)

1. See 3 U. S. 386 (1798).
2. The Quality Affordable Health Care for All Americans Act, 42 U. S. C. § 18001 et seq. [hereinafter Act]
3. BARACK OBAMA, THE AUDACITY OF HOPE 86 (2006).
4. See Definition of "Rights", MERRIAM-EEBSTER, available at http://www.merriam-webster.com (last visited Jan. 12, 2010).
5. See generally Troxel v. Granville, 530 U. S. 57, 65 (2000) (explaining that the 5th and 14th amendments offer heightened protection against federal and state government interference of certain fundamental rights and liberties).
6. U. S. CONST, amend. I.
7. U. S. CONST, amend. II.
8. U. S. CONST, amend. VI.
9. Robert A. Levy, Second Amendment Redux: Scrutiny, Incorporation, and the Heller Paradox, 33 HARV. J. L. & PUB. POL'Y 203, 206 (2010).
10. Michael W. McConnell, Natural Rights and the Ninth Amendment: How Does Lockean Legal Theory Assist in Interpretation?, 5 N. Y. U. J. L. & LIBERTY 1, 19 (2010) (emphasis added).
11. Griswold v. Connecticut, 381 U. S. 479, 484 (1965).
12. See Harper v. Virginia Board of Elections, 383 U. S. 663 (1966).
13. See Skinner v. Oklahoma ex rel. Williamson, 316 U. S. 535 (1942).
14. See Shapiro v. Thompson, 394 U. S. 618 (1969).
15. See Roe v. Wade, 410 U. S. 113 (1973).
16. See Dandridge v. Williams, 397 U. S. 471 (1970) (refusing to find a fundamental right to receive welfare);
17. see also Plyler v. Doe, 457 U. S. 202 (1982) (refusing to find a fundamental right to education).
18. Plyler, 457 U. S. at 221.
19. Dandridge, 397 U. S. at 485-86.
20. See generally Helen K. Michael, The Role of NaturalLawin Early American Constitutionalism: Did the Founders Contemplate Judicial Enforcement of "Unwritten " Judicial Rights?, 69 N. C. L. REV. 421 (1991) (arguing that the Founders did not contemplate using the Constitution to find unwritten rights).
21. McCulloch v. Maryland, 17 U. S. 316, 407 (1819).
22. PATRICK RILEY, WILL AND POLITICAL LEGITIMACY 63 (1982).
23. Kristen David Adams, Do We Need a Right to Housing?, 9 NEV. L. J. 275, 289 (2009).
24. VICENTE MEDINA, SOCIAL CONTRACT THEORIES: POLITICAL OBLIGATION OR ANARCHY? 4 (1990).
25. Troxel, 530 U. S. at 65.
26. THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE para. 2 (U. S. 1776) (emphasis added).
27. Daniel A. Farber, Constitutional Cadenzas, 56 DRAKE L. REV. 833, 837 (2008).
28. Terry Brennan, Natural Rights and the Constitution: The Original "Original Intent", 15 HARV. J. L. & PUB. POL'Y 965, 971-74 (1992).
29. Colder, 3 U. S. at 386-95, 398-401.
30. Edward B. Foley, The Bicentennial of Calder v. Bull.-In Defense o/Democratic Middle Ground, 59 OHIO ST. L. J. 1599, 1599 (1998).
31. Colder, 3 U. S. at 388.
32. Thomas B. McAffee, Overcoming Lochner in the Twenty-First Century: Taking Both Rights and Popular Sovereignty Seriously as we Seek to Secure Equal Citizenship and Promote the Public Good, 42 U. RICH. L. REV. 597, 602 (2008) (internal quotations omitted).
33. Colder, 3 U. S. at 398.
34. Alison Barnes, The Various Human Rights in Healthcare, HUMAN RIGHTS MAGAZINE, Fall 1998, at 12.
35. Michael P. Zuckert, Do Natural Rights Derive from Natural Law?, 20 HARV. J. L. & PUB. POL'Y 695, 701-03 (1997).
36. THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE para. 2 (U. S. 1776).
37. THE FEDERALIST No. 51 (Alexander Hamilton).
38. See generally MICHAEL LESSNOFF, Social CONTRACT 54 (1986) (explaining that contract as "multilateral covenants" that authorize a sovereign government to preserve the peace).
39. JEAN-JACQUESROUSSEAU, THESOCIAL CONTRACT 77 (Maurice Cranston trans., Penguin Books 1968) (1762).
40. Brian Gilmore, American Rousseau: Barack Obama and the Social Contract, 35 T. MARSHALL L. REV. 9, 20 (2009).
41. ERNEST BARKER, Introduction to SOCIAL CONTRACT: ESSAYS BY LOCKE, HUME, AND ROUSSEAU xx-xxi (photo, reprint. Oxford Univ. Press 1967) (1947).
42. RICHARD ASCRAFT, LOCKE'S TWO TREATISES OF GOVERNMENT 38-39 (1987).
43. see NOTES OF DEBATES IN THE FEDERAL CONVENTION OF 1787 REPORTED BY JAMES MADISON (C. C. Tansilled., 1987).
44. Andrew C. Spiropoulos, Rights Done Right: A Critique of Libertarian Originalism, 78 UMKC L. REV. 661, 663 (2010).
45. RESTATEMENT (SECOND) OF CONTRACTS § 22 (1981).
46. III CONG. REC. H 12857 (daily ed. Nov. 7, 2009) (statement of Rep. John Lewis).
47. Final Vote Results for Roll Call 887 (Nov. 7, 2009), http://clerk.house. gov/evs/2009/roll887.xml.
48. See Obama Signs Health Care Overhaul Bill, With a Flourish, N. Y. TIMES. COM (Mar. 23, 2010), http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/24/health/policy/24health. html.
49. Transcript of Second McCain, Obama Debate, CNN. COM (Oct. 7, 2008), http://www.cnn. com/2008/POLITICS/10/07/presidential.debate.transcript/ [hereinafter Debate Transcript].
50. III CONG. REC. HI 2857 (daily ed. Nov. 7, 2009) (statement of Rep. John Lewis).
51. Debate Transcript, supra note 104.
52. STAFF OF REPUBLICAN S. POL'Y COMM., 11 1TH CONG., LEGISLATIVE NOTICE: THE QUALITY AFFORDABLE HEALTH CARE FOR ALL AMERICANS ACT, No. 28, at 6 (Dec. 2, 2009) (explaining provisions of the Act), available at http://rpc.senate.gov/ public/-files/L28HR3590HealthCarel20209ac.pdf [hereinafter Legislative Notice].
53. HouseComm. on Ways and Means, Energy and Commerce, and Educ. and Labor, 111th Cong., America's Affordable Health Choices Act (July 14, 2009), http://edlabor.house.gOv/documents/l 11/pdP publications/AAHCA-BILLSUMM ARY-071409.pdf.
54. Legislative Notice, supra note 110, at 4.
55. See Senator Christopher Dodd, A Strong Public Option, http://dodd.senate.gov/multimedia/2009/PublicInsuranceOption.pdf..
56. See GOP Solutions for America, Health Care Reform, http://gopleader.gov/ UploadedFiles/Summary-of-Republican-Alternati ve-Health-Care-plan-Updated-l 1-04-09.pdf.
57. Legislative Notice, supra note 110, at 14-16.
58. See House Committee on Education and Labor, supra note 126.
59. Rep. Paul Ryan, 111 CONG. HOUSE FLOOR DEBATE (Mar. 21, 2010), available at www.cspan.org.
60. Andrew Busch, Is Healthcare a Right?, CLAREMONT INSTITUTE, Mar. 2010, available at http://www.claremont.org/publications/crb/id. 1607/article-detail. asp.
61. Cruzan v. Missouri Dept. of Health, 497 U. S. 261, 333 (1990) (Stevens, J., dissenting).
62. Corfield v. Coryell, 6 F. Cas. 546 (No. 3, 230) (C. C. E. D. Pa. 1823).
63. Hague v. Committee for Indus. Organization, 307 U. S. 496, 511 (1939).
64. see also Supreme Court of New Hampshire v. Piper, 470 U. S. 274, 281 n. 10 (1985).
65. G. D. Searle & Co. v. Conn, 455 U. S. 404, 408 (1982).
66. Griswold v. Connecticut, 381 U. S. 479, 493 (1965) (Goldberg, J., concurring).
67. quoting Snyder v. Massachusetts, 291 U. S. 97 (1934).
68. quoting Powel v. Alabama 287 U. S. 45 (1932).
69. See Harris v. McRae, 448 U. S. 297 (1980).
70. W. Va. State Bd. of Educ. v. Bamette, 319 U. S. 624, 641 (1943).
71. Douglas Angus, Some Thoughts on Rights and Responsibilities in Healthcare, 11 NAT'L J. Const. L. 261, 263 (2000).
72. CNN Poll (Mar. 2010), http://www.redstate.com/jrichardson/2010/03/22/cnn- poll-59-percentnow-in-opposition/.
73. Specter Faces Hostile Audience at Healthcare Forum, CNN (Aug. 11, 2009), http://www.cnn. com/2009/POLrnCS/08/ll/specter.town. hall/index.html.
74. Complaint, Florida ex ret. McCollum v. U. S. Dep't of Health & Human Servs., No. 3:10-cv-91 (N. D. Fla. Mar. 23, 2010), available at http://msnbcmedia.msn. com/i/MSNBaSections/NEWS/A-Politics/healthcare.pdf (at this point, the case has survived the first hurdle).
75. United States v. Lee, 106 U. S. 196, 208 (1882).
76. Elizabeth Weeks Leonard, The Public's Right to Health: When Patient Rights Threaten the Commons, 86 WASH. U. L. REV. 1335, 1344 (2009).
77. Francis Cianfrocca, Wealth Creation Under Attack, COMMENTARY, June 2009, at 27.
78. See Robert Rich, Health Policy, Health Insurance and the Social Contract, 21 COMP. LAB. L. & POL'Y J. 397 (2000).
79. See Stuart M. Butler, Restoring the American Social Contract (July 26, 2007), THE HERITAGE FOUNDATION (Aug. 29, 2007), http://www.heritage.org/ Research/Lecture/Restoring-the-American-Social-Contract (arguing for healthcare reform based on reciprocal obligations).