SPOTLIGHT: PEER PRESSURE
Attorneys general in a number of states are at odds with their governor
or state legislature over whether to join in a lawsuit being prepared by
14 states challenging the constitutionality of the new health reform
law. The AGs on March 23 launched the lawsuit just hours after President
Obama signed the Senate health reform bill (HR 3590) into law. The
lawsuit charges that the "Constitution nowhere authorizes the United
States to mandate, either directly or under threat of penalty, that all
citizens and legal residents have qualifying health care coverage." The
suit also claims that the law violates the Constitution's 10th Amendment
and, in a non-constitutional argument, that implementing reform will
cost billions of dollars to states because they will be forced to expand
Medicaid eligibility under the plan. AGs in Arizona, Arkansas, Georgia
and Nevada all have resisted requests that they join the lawsuit.
Meanwhile, Republican AGs in Colorado, Washington and Wisconsin have
attempted to join the lawsuit, despite objections from Democratic
governors. In addition, Republican lawmakers in Kansas and Kentucky have
called for their states to sue, and Missouri's lieutenant governor made
a similar request. ( <>
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