14 States, 2 Lawsuits Against Health Care Bill

From the Christian Science Monitor:

In Tallahassee, Fla., 12 attorneys general joined Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum in a 22-page complaint filed in federal court, charging that the new healthcare reform package exceeds Congress's powers to regulate commerce, violates 10th Amendment protections of state sovereignty, and imposes an unconstitutional direct tax….

Virginia filed a similar lawsuit simultaneously in federal court in Richmond. That suit is slightly different in that it focuses in part on the clash between a recently enacted state law protecting the right of Virginia residents to refuse unwanted health insurance and the new federal law that imposes penalties on anyone who seeks to defy the national government's command to purchase health insurance…..

The seven-page lawsuit presents a straightforward challenge to Congress's decision to rely on its power to regulate interstate commerce to justify the federal mandate that every individual must have health insurance or pay a penalty.

"It has never been held that the Commerce Clause [of the Constitution] … can be used to require citizens to buy goods and services," the suit says. "To depart from that history to permit the national government to require the purchase of goods and services would deprive the Commerce Clause of any effective limits."….

In addition to Florida, participating plaintiffs in the lawsuit include attorneys general from South Carolina, Nebraska, Texas, Utah, Louisiana, Alabama, Michigan, Colorado, Pennsylvania, Washington State, Idaho, and South Dakota. The suing attorneys general are Republicans except James "Buddy" Caldwell of Louisiana, who is a Democrat.

The suit is pretty much designed to get to the Supreme Court, as the Florida suit crew admits. This Hit and Run post from Damon Root yesterday will lead you to much background on the Commerce Clause issues involved and other potential legal issues with the new health care law.