States Launch Lawsuits Against Healthcare Plan

[Elmore Furth]

Source: Reuters

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Less than 24 hours after the House of Representatives gave final approval to a sweeping overhaul of healthcare, attorneys general from several states on Monday said they will sue to block the plan on constitutional grounds.

Republican attorneys general in 11 states warned that lawsuits will be filed to stop the federal government overstepping its constitutional powers and usurping states' sovereignty.

States are concerned the burden of providing healthcare will fall on them without enough federal support.

Ten of the attorneys general plan to band together in a collective lawsuit on behalf of Alabama, Florida, Nebraska, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah and Washington.


Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2010/03/22/news/news-us-usa-healthcare-states.html?_r=1&ref=news

[Hawkeye-X]

1. Look for new Attorney Generals to be elected in those states

Idiots. All of them.

[tinrobot]

17. I can see the ads now...

Republican attorney general "X" spent taxpayer dollars so that health insurance companies can go back to denying you and your family health care for pre-existing conditions.

Never again. Vote for the Democratic candidate, etc...

[Joe Bacon]

56. The same thing was done by the GOP in 1935

You had a bunch of Republican states filing lawsuits against every New Deal law that was passed, including Social Security.

Didn't go all that well for them, did it?

[wordpix]

57. yeah but repukes don't know how to study history or anything else

It's all just knee JERK reactions for them :crazy:

[Dappleganger]

67. United States v. Butler 297 U.S. 1 (1936)

[NJmaverick]

2. If the will of the people is against you

try a legal trick to thwart democracy

[Name removed]

4. Deleted message

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[musical_soul]

8. How is this democracy?

They did this against the will of the American people. Did we get a vote? No.

I realize that's part of being a Republic, but can we call this process Republic? Nothing
democratic about this.

And for the record, I voted for Obama. I voted for him AFTER he promised us that he wouldn't push for
fining people who didn't buy insurance. He promised this, and now he's broken his promise.

And yes, Obama did promise back. Just youtube it. It's in the debate between him and McCain when McCain brings up "How much of a fine will Joe the Plummer have to pay." Then Obama looked at the TV and said "Joe, this is what you'll pay. Nothing." Obama lied.

[NJmaverick]

10. The DEMOCRATICALLY ELECTED representatives VOTED in favor of the bill

[Posteritatis]

13. Don't you love how the goalposts move in something like this?

If it's something I like and it passes, that means democracy wins because my representatives did what I wanted. If it's something I don't like and it passes, that means democracy fails because we didn't have a referendum instead.

[NJmaverick]

15. We live in a Republic, not a Democracy

you need to know and understand that, so you can see the goal posts have not been moved.

[Posteritatis]

20. You'll notice that I was agreeing with you

The poster to whom you responded is the one shoving the things around by complaining about not having had a direct vote on the issue.

[musical_soul]

30. All I was saying.......

Is that this is a result of Republic, NOT democracy. The idea that those who oppose this
bill which will hurt working people somehow oppose democracy is wrong. If anything, our elected
officials said "F You" to the public that voted for them.

[0rganism]

55. nope, this here's a representative democracy, for better or for worse

Republic refers to a sovereign nation of any kind except a monarchy. Saying "we're a republic, not a democracy" is pretty much meaningless at best, and potentially misleading.

The USA is a prime example of a representative democracy, whatever other labels we may have incurred along the way. At the highest levels, the people who make, enforce, and interpret our laws are either elected or appointed by someone who was elected. It's crucial that we the people stop transmitting the Republicans' disenfranchising meme about our country, realize that our nation is ultimately of our making, accept that our government is a reflection of our collective will over time, and take some responsibility for correcting its mistakes.

[musical_soul]

29. Let's see how many of them get re-elected in the Fall......

There are usually political consequences for stuff like this.

[wordpix]

58. even if they lose more seats, the repukes will claim Mission Accomplished

In their minds, they're the winners and rightful rulers of their US Kingdom

[ixion]

3. Good. I hope there are lawsuits a plenty

and that the corrupt politicians who handed this gift to the insurance industry wind up selling french fries.

[NYC Liberal]

26. That's what I hope happens to the corrupt politicians who voted against it.

Except they don't need to sell french fries, they've already got plenty of money.

[FSogol]

5. Republican AG's waste State tax dollars fighting politcal points

is what the headline should say. Add VA to the list. VA Wingnut AG Ken Cuccinelli plans on suing also.

[EFerrari]

12. Or maybe they don't want to be left holding the bag.

[liberalmuse]

6. I've noticed...

some people on DU are going nuts about how the HCR is irrevocably flawed because it doesn't have enough progressive stuff in it (Public Option, Medicare buy-in, etc.), yet even this flawed bill is being attacked as 'too radical' by the other side. Does anyone think in this day and age, immediately post-Bush that we'd actually get a 100% liberal bill through Congress? We can't even get a 50% one through.

[EFerrari]

11. How many Republican votes did we get in the House?

[Mari333]

41. [phone]

[Uncle Joe]

27. I believe, they're only attacking as a means to put up a public front and satisfy their base of

average Republicans.

They know their Republican dominated corporate supremacist Supreme Court will not rule against corporate interests.

Having a government enforced mandate to purchase for profit "health" insurance with out a minimum strong national public option is too sweet a deal for their primary constituents; that being corporations.

[wordpix]

59. I believe they're doing this to have something to run on in mid-year elections

They have no ideas, no legislation, nothing. The Dems put their best ideas into this health care package so they can say their ideas were ignored but the facts don't bear that out.

Lawsuits will focus the public's attention on them and that's what they want.

[GrapesOfWrath]

7. Great way to spend the time and resources of these states

what a bunch of jerkwads... jeez :shrug:

[wordpix]

60. How many of these states are in the red (financially) already, BTW?

[WeekendWarrior]

9. Well this about sums it up:

"Alabama, Florida, Nebraska, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah and Washington."

[Jansen]

23. Washington seems out of place on that list.

I must say I am not surprised to see the other states on that list.. but Washington?! Wow.

[depakid]

32. McKenna doesn't like the mandate

http://www.atg.wa.gov/pressrelease.aspx?&id=25402

He'll very likely lose on the Commerce Clause point.

[Jansen]

38. Interesting related article

http://www.nwprogressive.org/weblog/2010/03/rob-mckenna-shows-his-true-colors-says.html

Good to see Gregoire is going to oppose this suit.

[Thothmes]

36. Virginia is in on the game

[DCBob]

14. Even if this makes it to the SCOTUS, which I doubt, it will likely be 4/4 split..

with Stevens the moderate being the swing vote. My money is on Stevens siding with Obama and the Democrats.

[Roland99]

16. And where were the Red State admins when NCLB left the states behind in their budgets?

fucking repubocrites.

[Nancy Waterman]

18. Wouldn't Social Security and Medicare be illegal

by the logic of these lawsuits, in that they force payment from people whether they want to pay or not?
The only difference is that Medicare and SS are paid along with taxes instead of separately.

[Roland99]

25. Oh, stop confusing the matter with FACTS!

silly DUer.

[madville]

33. If our social security money went directly to Wall Street firms it would be the same

Do you think it would be legal if the government required a mandatory contribution to buy a corporations stock with the chance you may see a return? That sounds similar to what we just got to me.

I don't really care who sues over this bill as long as it gets challenged and ruled upon in some way.

[Thothmes]

37. I do not see it as the same

The government has a constitutionally legal right to tax me for just about anything it wants. Taxes collected to pay programs like Social Security and Medicare perfectly legal. In the case of the HCR law, the government is not taxing me for health care. Instead, the government is ordering me to buy ahealth insurance plan from a private company. If I do not buy that health insurace from a private company, the government will fine me.

[wordpix]

61. and where were they when Bushit declared war in Iraq for billions each week?

[Better Today]

19. "Said" and "warned" are not "launch". They haven't launched yet.

If there concern is based on the concept that the burden will fall to the states. . . I don't think they have a leg to stand on.

[starroute]

21. So Pennsylvania's Republican A-G, who's running for governor...

... is able to launch this lawsuit unilaterally, even though Pennsylvania currently has a Democratic governor and each party holds one branch of the state legislature?

Sounds a lot like grandstanding to me -- and far from democratic.

Is there anything I can do about it?

[harun]

22. I'm in PA and wondering the same thing.

[mvd]

28. Same here. Is there anything Rendell can do?

The AG isn't all powerful.

[MisterP]

31. no less democratic than purging single-payer advocates and cutting PO

yes I went there

[starroute]

39. Cheap shot

I'm talking about the ability of an attorney general to unilaterally commit a state to a certain course of action without any input from the governor or legislature.

Say what you will about the health care bill, it was not passed unilaterally or intended to benefit a single individual's political campaign.

[MisterP]

40. quite right: the yea voters and House and WH leaders MULTIlaterally gave us an unpopular mandate and

jettisoned a popular PO with the intent of benefiting SEVERAL individuals' political campaigns

[dashrif]

53. Part

of the AG job is upholding the State Constitution if he feels it violates its powers under the tenth they can and will file also the AG is an elected official and all elected official's grandstand I don't think anyone has found a way to curb grandstanding politician it's like the old joke of stopping a charging elephant pun intended

[wordpix]

62. a citizens' countersuit stating the AG is flagrantly misusing the public's tax dollars?

might help. I'm no lawyer but there are plenty of laws on the books about misusing the public's money.

[lunatica]

24. Election year posturing

Just like a bunch of reps and governors said they wouldn't accept the stimulus money. Yeah, sure.

[madville]

34. A SCOTUS decision could be 8-1 or 9-0 for or against the bill

A SCOTUS decision could be 8-1 or even 9-0, it would be entertaining.

The liberals siding with the Democrats and the conservatives siding with the corporations, both factions coming down on the same side, upholding the law as it is written lol.

The other scenario would be the conservatives voting against the Democrats and the liberals voting against the corporations, both sides striking down the law for opposite reasons lol.

This bill could have been written by either party. If it were Democrat AG's suing over it everyone would be backing their actions. I'm happy it is being challenged in some form, that is healthy for the system and I am very interested to see which way the court falls.

[depakid]

42. Not without dramatically upending almost 80 years of precedent

[DatManFromNawlins]

64. Precedent?

What precedent? The federal government has never before exercised the power to force people to buy a product from a private business under penalty of fine or imprisonment.

[beardown]

35. Must be a new power states' AG's have now.

Otherwise, we'd have seen a whole slew of law suits filed against Bush the Stupid's administration for personally killing off most of the Bill of Rights.

[Omaha Steve]

43. Opponents take last stand against health care bill

Source: AP

By DENISE LAVOIE

In a defiant last stand against a newly passed health care overhaul, opponents are trying everything they can to stop it from becoming the law of the land.

Republicans in the Senate are planning parliamentary maneuvers to keep a companion bill from reaching the president's desk. And lawmakers in at least 30 states are working to prevent what they say is an unconstitutional mandate forcing Americans to have health insurance.

Experts say none of it is likely to work, but it will keep the issue, and the outrage, alive until Election Day.

"I am surprised by the mobilization of the states. It does strike me as a kind of civil disobedience, a declaration that we're not going to follow the law of the land," said Mark Hall, a professor of law and public health at Wake Forest University.


Read more: http://apnews.excite.com/article/20100323/D9EK0C400.html

---

Annamaria Evans stands with a group of activists, legislators and community leaders outside Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak, Mich., Monday, March 22, 2010. They launched a petition drive Monday to put a measure on the Michigan ballot asking voters whether they want to exempt the state from the federal health care overhaul. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)

[ixion]

44. Fight the Mandate!

:woohoo:

30 states have organized against this. That should give people an indication just how unpopular this piece of trash really is outside the beltway.

[Unvanguard]

46. Not 30 states, "lawmakers in 30 states"

which means that they're counting random far-rightists in state legislatures who introduce legislation that will never pass.

It's interesting, however, to see that you ally yourself with Republican state governments and legislators against a bill that received the support of every single progressive in Congress.

[ixion]

47. As I've said many times over the past few months...

I don't play teams, I play issues. I don't support this legislation for my own set of reasons, many that have nothing whatsoever to do with the reasons rethugs are using.

When I opposed the unPATRIOTic Act, I was lauded as a progressive. When I oppose a (dem driven) bill that I see as equally distasteful, I'm called a republican.

It's a good thing I don't listen to the names people call me. I wouldn't know who the hell I was.

[Robb]

49. Playing issues without looking at the teams is folly.

Irrespective of this particular issue, it's always worth seeing who is lining up with you. Not judging a cause by that is missing a big part of the analysis.

[Mari333]

66. amen!!

[annabanana]

45. keep the "outrage alive until Election Day".. really?

That's pretty pathetic.

[wordpix]

63. I'm sorry but you don't get free lunch OR free health care. Medicare pay-in is mandated, too

You have to pay health care workers, keep the lights on and have some equipment on hand. You cannot get free medical care, free schools, free highways, roads repaired or anything else. You have to pay taxes or mandated something for these "rights."

Canadians have high sales tax on every item except food to pay for social insurance including health care and unemployment benefits. PLUS they are mandated to pay into the system according to income. The high sales tax applies to EVERYONE regardless of income, including visitors and undocumented workers. This is at least one way to go, and mandates are another.

For those of you who get insurance through work, you are mandated to pay in, too, and it's taken out of your paycheck each month.

[lonestarnot]

48. Oh you mean Arizona is not joining? Well, maybe later, if it isn't thrown out on MTD.

But then I don't know the rule for deadline in Federal Court for enjoining parties. May be before an MTD is ruled upon. And yes I just entered that sentence ending in a preposition. :evilgrin: :toast:

[TomCADem]

50. Yup, States Will Fight To Keep The Medicare Donut Hole Open and...

allow insurance companies to deny coverage to children based on pre-existing conditions, and fight to allow insurance companies to rescind coverage retroactively.

Way to go GOP!

[Psephos]

52. The doughnut hole has been closed forever.

Regardless of what else happens. :)

[DebbieCDC]

51. Well that idjit 'puke AG in Washington can kiss his job goodbye next go-round

I heard him on NPR tonight pontificating that "HE" represents the people of Washington and "HE" decides what actions to take, etc. What a jerk.

How this state ever elected a 'puke AG I'll never know. Must have been all those tea baggers east of the Cascade Curtain.

[Ferret Annica]

54. President Obama proved he's every bit the president Ted Kennedy

hoped he'd be. He did the virtually impossible and saw Teddy dream got realized. and nothing is going to get in the way of this change being complete, and successful.

Thank you President Obama, you are the right stuff, and I am proud to have voted for you

[okieinpain]

65. I wonder how all of the outrage repugs are going to back down

when the insurance companies start telling them that hcr bill isn't so bad after all, and they would like for them to shut up now.