Posted on 04/07/2010 10:21:12 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Five more U.S. states have now joined the attorneys general of a dozen other states in a lawsuit aimed at toppling the federal government’s new health care law.
The states assert that portions of the health care legislation signed into law by President Obama on March 23 amounts to constitutional overreach that infringes on the right of states and individuals to manage their own affairs.
"We welcome the partnership of Indiana, North Dakota, Mississippi, Nevada and Arizona as we continue fighting to protect the constitutional rights of American citizens and the sovereignty of our states," said Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum in a statement.
“On behalf of the residents in Florida and the states joining our efforts, we are committed to aggressively pursuing this lawsuit to the U.S. Supreme Court if necessary to prevent this unprecedented expansion of federal powers, impact upon state sovereignty, and encroachment on our freedom,” McCollum continued.
The attorneys general of Alabama, Colorado, Louisiana, Michigan, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Nebraska, South Dakota, Texas, Utah and Washington had already banded together with Florida to file a lawsuit against the federal government with the US District Court for the Northern District of Florida.
The lawsuit contends that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) infringes upon the constitutional rights of the residents of states by forcing all citizens and legal residents to carry qualified health insurance or pay a financial penalty.
The states contend that the insurance mandate exceeds the limited scope of the powers granted to the federal government under Article I of the US Constitution. Furthermore, they assert that the tax penalty for not carrying insurance violates the prohibition against the direct taxation of individuals outlined in Article I, sections 2 and 9 of the Constitution.
The suit also contends that the PPACA infringes on the sovereignty of the states guaranteed under the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution by forcing the states to abide by new operating rules and mandating that they spend billions of dollars to support the new health care system, when they already face severe budget crises.
Virginia has also filed its own separate lawsuit against the federal government, reiterating many of the concerns of its fellow states. Virginia has already passed a state law that expressly forbids the government from mandating that citizens carry health insurance or pay a penalty.
The addition of the five new states brings the total number of states involved in the Florida-led lawsuit against the federal government over ObamaCare to nineteen, including Virginia.
A hearing for scheduling the Florida-led suit is set to take place April 14, 2010 at 9 a.m. central time at the Federal Courthouse in Pensacola, Florida.
wish all states would join in.
bump
Nice! I wish all would join too.
What do they have up their sleeve that they can just blow this off?
I think they simply posessed by evil and having their pensions and offshore accounts, they are not concerned.
Too many dem AGs that refuse to stand up for state sovereignty.
Our Obama-loyal Arizona attorney general slithered out of the or a lawsuit. So our Republican governor jumped in and is pushing hard. Our Obama-loyal attorney general is also running for governor. It’s going to be fun reminding him of that until October.
>>What do they have up their sleeve that they can just blow this off? <<
Because their reading is that the ENTIRETY of the USC is in the preamble: “to promote the general welfare.” The rest is blah blah blah blah.
Nevada's just did. We have a Republican senate and a Democrat assembly. Most of our state politicians wanted NV to join this suit.
As if you needed any more evidence that Reid's goose is cooked.
BINGO!! Nothing after the preamble exists for them.
2012 presidential election is cancelled, and 2010 congressional elections are in deep do-do.
Let’s see, that’s five added to the original thirteen, making 18.
18 / 50 = .36
So, 36% of the states are challenging this...
We need another twenty states to get the 3/4.
SEIU has been running commercials in Indianapolis thanking Democrats for passing “Healthcare Reform”.
Build the meme, build the meme, and use YOUR tax dollars to do it.
This is the price we pay for ignoring the warnings of the radical networks that have been building up for 20+ years..
Mississippi was a given, but it’s nice to see the others joining in. It would take a miracle of miracles for the state of Montana to join in.
How many electoral votes do these 19 states have? Is Ohio planning to join in?
We have a Dem AG in Arizona. The Governor and State Legislature bypassed him.
Starting to sound like a call or a constitutional convention.
We need no new constitution; we need to use the one we have had for over two hundred years. It will serve us well.
Did we have more states in between the original 13 and these 5?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.