Giving Life to the Dead: The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act's Impact on Freedom of Contract as a Substantive Due Process Right

Jesse D. Kershner Mr., Private Practice

Abstract

This article examines the constitutional implications of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care of 2010. Particularly, whether the substantive due process right of freedom of contract is recognized yet again as a fundamental right. This paper argues while Muller and West Coast Hotel overturned Lochner procedurally, the substance of the fundamental right concerning contracts still exists; specifically the notion that citizens have a right to be free from forced contracts.