Judge Vinson’s ruling today that Obamacare’s individual mandate is unconstitutional, following on the heels of Judge Hudson’s similar ruling in the Fourth Circuit, should give the new Congress all the confidence it needs to rescind this provision and more. Indeed, the idea that government could order a person to buy a product from a private vendor, or be fined for failing to do so, is so foreign to our Constitution for limited government that it’s a wonder that Congress ever imagined it had such a power to begin with.

The Congress that passed Obamacare is now gone. It will be an early test for members of the new Congress, including those many Senate Democrats up for reelection in 2012, whether they will study these well-reasoned opinions and come to a better understanding of the constitutional limits on their power. There are far better, more constitutional ways to enable Americans to obtain health care than through the massive government intrusion into the healthcare market that Obamacare ordered. There is nothing quite like a little freedom to enable Americans to solve their own problems.