Religion & Law

I have a new paper (forthcoming in the University of Pennsylvania Law Review)  in which I seek to provide part of a Catholic context for countering some of the overly simple libertarian opposition to the individual mandate component of the Obama healthcare legislation.  I haven't made up my mind on whether or not legislation that depends on the individual mandate for its financial viability was *prudent* (I am dubious that more "insurance" is the solution to the current healthcare problem), and I certainly object to many aspects of Obamacare (many of the ones addressed by the USCCB), but I do think that many of the arguments being offered against the constitutionality of the individual mandate, above all Randy Barnett's, which is the focus of my paper, raise problems for those who wish to be Catholic in their response to this social issue.