States respond in health care overhaul lawsuit
PENSACOLA, Fla. (AP) — Twenty states and the nation’s most influential small business lobby plan Friday to file their response to the government’s attempt to dismiss their lawsuit challenging President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul.
The Justice Department in June asked a federal judge to dismiss the lawsuit, saying the U.S. District Court in Pensacola lacks subject-matter jurisdiction over some of the lawsuit’s claims. They also said other parts of the lawsuit failed to state claims upon which relief can be granted.
The states, the National Federation of Independent Business and several individual taxpayers will file their response in Pensacola federal court.
A key issue raised by their lawsuit is whether the federal government can require individuals to purchase health care insurance and fine those who don’t.
The court must hear the case to preserve individual liberties granted through the Constitution, said Karen Harned, executive director of the Small Business Legal Center of the National Federation of Independent Business.
“The federal government does not have the authority to regulate an individual’s decision to do nothing. If they did, then they could force us to purchase any product they want,” she said.
In a statement, Harned said the government’s motion to dismiss was based on “political rhetoric and flimsy legal arguments” and was an attempt to distract the court from evaluating the case’s constitutional issues.
Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum, a Republican candidate for governor, is leading the legal challenge. Other states that have joined the lawsuit are Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Georgia, Indiana, Idaho, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Nebraska, Nevada, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah and Washington.
U.S. District Judge Roger Vinson has set a Sept. 14 hearing to consider arguments on the motion to dismiss.
In its motion to dismiss the lawsuit, the Justice Department said the requirement to buy coverage is an exercise of Congress’ constitutional power to tax and spend. Government attorneys also have said that while reasonable people may disagree on issues such as the health care overhaul, it cannot be moved from the elected branches of government into the courts without a genuine constitutional issue, which they maintain is absent in this case.
The states argue the new law will require them to pay additional Medicaid costs not covered by the federal government, but that they cannot opt out of the program for low-income and disabled people because it has become too popular.
They maintain that violates the 10th Amendment, which says the states and people have powers that the constitution does not grant to the federal government nor prohibit the states from having.
The health care law, passed along partisan lines, requires most Americans to carry health insurance — through an employer, a government program, or by buying their own policy. The mandate is effective in 2014. Insurers will then be required to take all applicants, and the government will offer tax credits to help middle-class households pay premiums. Medicaid will be expanded to cover millions more low-income people.
Individuals who refuse to get health insurance will face a tax penalty, with exceptions for financial hardship and religious reasons.
AP foreign, Friday August 6 2010
JENNIFER KAY
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Updated: December 16th Date Set…
Opponents of the proposed U.S. health care bill are pictured during a rally outside the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington, March 21, 2010.
Credit: Reuters/Jason Reed
PENSACOLA, Florida | Tue Sep 14, 2010 2:31pm EDT
(Reuters) - A Florida judge said on Tuesday he would hear arguments on December 16 on a lawsuit by 20 U.S. states seeking to block President Barack Obama's overhaul of the healthcare system.
District Judge Roger Vinson, who is weighing a motion by the Justice Department to dismiss the lawsuit, set the followup hearing on the lawsuit led by Florida and involving 19 other states, which was originally filed in March by mostly Republican state attorneys general.
Vinson said he would formally rule on the dismissal motion by October 14, but Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum said the judge had already strongly indicated that the case would not be dismissed.
"The judge's apparent decision today means we will proceed," McCollum told reporters.
The lawsuit claims the sweeping reform of the $2.5 trillion healthcare system, pushed through by Obama's fellow Democrats in the Congress after months of bitter partisan wrangling, violates state government rights in the Constitution and will force massive new spending on hard-pressed state governments.
(Reporting by Michael Peltier, Editing by Vicki Allen
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