With the Senate version of the health care bill clearing the House yesterday, GOP attorney generals prepare to fight back.
Many of them still plan to proceed with a lawsuit against what they consider an unconstitutional overreach of congressional authority to pass a federal health care bill. They specifically plan to sue over health insurance mandates, which will force people to be insured.
Alvand Abdolsalehi talks with political expert Ange-Marie Hancock about how the bill will come up in November election ads.
Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli announced Monday “….With this law, the federal government will force citizens to buy health insurance, claiming it has the authority to do so because of its power to regulate interstate commerce. We contend that if a person decides not to buy health insurance, that person – by definition – is not engaging in commerce, and therefore, is not subject to a federal mandate.”
GOP Attorneys General Henry McMaster of South Carolina, Mark Shurtleff of Utah and Bill McCollum of Florida are also expected to file suits against health care reform on Monday, along with Michigan’s Mike Cox, according to Politico.
However, legal challenges directed against the insurance mandates in the bill are speculative and will probably take years to reach the Supreme Court.
The plausibility of a challenge to the constitutionality of mandates has been reviewed by many scholars, including Georgetown University Law Professor Randy Barnett. He wrote in a Washington Post opinion piece, “the individual mandate extends the commerce clause’s power beyond economic activity, to economic inactivity. That is unprecedented.”
Republicans are also discussing trying to repeal the health care bill. But even if they garner enough votes do so after the elections this fall, they will need a two-thirds majority in both houses of congress to overcome a presidential veto that would probably come down from Obama if they tried to repeal.
Check out other details on the story at Neon Tommy.
