Obamacare Challenged in Court and by Members of Congress

Earlier today Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell was joined by 44 Senate Republican colleagues as he filed the amicus brief with the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals. The brief was filed on behalf of bi-partisan, multi-state challenge on the Democrats health care spending law. The following excerpts are from a letter that Leader McConnell sent to his colleagues asking them to sign onto the brief.

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Excerpts From Senator McConnell’s Letter To His Colleagues:

“Last November, Americans cast votes reflecting what they had been telling Washington for many months: they oppose a 2,700 page health care law that dramatically increases spending and expands the reach of the federal government into their health care decisions. While I firmly believe that we should repeal the law and replace it with the types of commonsense reforms Americans support, I also strongly support the efforts of the majority of states that have now challenged the law in the courts. “The attached brief essentially makes two key points. First it asserts that the Individual Mandate in the PPACA is an unprecedented and unauthorized exercise by the Congress of its authority to ‘regulate Commerce… among the several States…’ U.S. Const. art. I, § 8, cl. 3. For the first time, the Congress is not regulating an economic activity in which its citizens have chosen to engage, but rather is mandating that they engage in economic activity – that they purchase a particular product – to begin with; moreover, it would allow the federal government to punish those who make a different choice. Second, the brief argues that if the individual mandate is deemed constitutional, there will no longer be any meaningful limit on Congress’s power to regulate its citizens under the Commerce Clause. Congress’s specific power under that clause will be transformed into a general police power, all but eliminating the constitutional distinction between federal and state regulatory authority in our federal union.”

The Brief Was Signed By:

Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN), Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-NH), Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY), Sen. Roy Blunt (R-MO), Sen. John Boozman (R-AR), Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC), Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-GA), Sen. Daniel Coats (R-IN), Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK), Sen. Thad Cochran (R-MS), Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN), Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), Sen. Mike Crapo (R-ID), Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC), Sen. Michael Enzi (R-WY), Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT), Sen. Dean Heller (R-NV), Sen. John Hoeven (R-ND), Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX), Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK), Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-GA), Sen. Mike Johanns (R-NE), Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI), Sen. Mark Kirk (R-IL), Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ), Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT), Sen. Richard Lugar (R-IN), Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Sen. Jerry Moran (R-KS), Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH), Sen. James Risch (R-ID), Sen. Pat Roberts (R-KS), Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL), Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME), Sen. John Thune (R-SD), Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA), Sen. David Vitter (R-LA), Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS). Senate Amicus Brief Against ObamaCare Yesterday, a Federal Appeals panel heard over two hours of arguments in two Virginia lawsuits challenging Obama's health care overhaul. The judges on the panel consisted of two Obama appointees and one Clinton appointee. According to an article by the Associated Pres: Liberty attorney Mathew Staver told the panel that the federal law exceeds the bounds of the Commerce Clause by regulating "economic inactivity" _ a person's decision not to buy a product. He said the law "forces inactive bystanders into the stream of commerce." But Katyal said people are already involved in commerce as consumers of health services, and that's what the law regulates. The only question is who pays for the services, he said, and the law aims to reduce the $45 billion a year in health care costs run up by the uninsured. Those costs add about $1,000 a year to the average family premium of those who do buy insurance, Katyal said. See the article here. The two sides conducted a spirited debate with the panel of judges interrupting with numerous questions. The second hearing followed with more debate on whether Virginia can Constitutionally enact a law for Virginians to opt out of the health care law.The opposition stated that it would set a precedent for states to opt out of taxes funding Afghanistan or other federal policies they don't agree with. Both cases should reach the US Supreme Court by summer 2012.

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