KGIII Sweet 16 Matchup
Janet Yellen (Treasury)
vs.
Xavier Becerra (HHS)
It’s just information gathering. As Secretary of the Treasury, Janet Yellen defended an unconstitutional law that requires any business with fewer than 20 employees to report to the Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network to disclose sensitive corporate ownership data, accessible to law enforcement in violation of the Fourth Amendment. The law also coerces speech under the First Amendment by requiring significant penalties and even jail time for non-compliance. Plus the law regulates businesses that have not even engaged in commerce yet, in violation of the Commerce Clause’s limits on government legislation and regulation.
The price isn’t right. Secretary Becerra oversaw implementation of the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, a law that allows the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to force a company to give up its constitutional property rights. The law violates the “unconstitutional conditions” doctrine, which prevents the government from coercing companies into relinquishing constitutional rights. The law aims to reduce Medicare drug costs by forcing pharmaceutical companies to sell their products below market value. Since this would violate the Fifth Amendment’s Takings Clause, the law threatens companies with severe excise taxes and penalties unless they comply.
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