TravelBanter - View Single Post - Virginia among several dozen possible other individual statesimmediately prepares court challenge to legality of ObamaCare mandates.

**Earl Evleth[_1_]**

On 22/03/10 16:45, in article
,
"Jigsaw1695" wrote:

Two Supreme Court rulings affirmed the constitutionality of the Social
Security Act.

Steward Machine Company v. Davis, 301 U.S, 548[22] (1937) held, in a
5*4 decision, that, given the exigencies of the Great Depression, "[It] is
too late today for the argument to be heard with tolerance that in a crisis
so extreme the use of the moneys of the nation to relieve the unemployed and
their dependents is a use for any purpose narrower than the promotion of the
general welfare". The arguments opposed to the Social Security Act
(articulated by justices Butler, McReynolds, and Sutherland in their
opinions) were that the social security act went beyond the powers that were
granted to the federal government in the Constitution. They argued that, by
imposing a tax on employers that could be avoided only by contributing to a
state unemployment-compensation fund, the federal government was essentially
forcing each state to establish an unemployment-compensation fund that would
meet its criteria, and that the federal government had no power to enact
such a program.

Helvering v. Davis, 301 U.S. 619 (1937), decided on the same day as
Steward, upheld the program because "The proceeds of both [employee and
employer] taxes are to be paid into the Treasury like internal-revenue taxes
generally, and are not earmarked in any way". That is, the Social Security
Tax was constitutional as a mere exercise of Congress's general taxation
powers.