At Red State, Erick Erickson has the story: Sens. DeMint and Ensign, hard on the heels of a conservative movement leadership’s memo on just this matter, are going to force the Senate to vote on a constitutional point of order, with the two senators saying (rightly) that the individual mandate is unconstitutional. This is important symbolically, substantively, and perhaps legally. Symbolically, it raises the constitutional issue in the public eye as a political issue, and puts the Dems on the spot for pretending that a constitutional violation is not a constitutional violation, Substantively, it provides a chance to educate the public on the Constitution, and on the bill’s constitutional defects. Legally, it provides at least a tiny bit stronger ground for anybody to stand on if somebody wants to take this issue to court.
