Feds Demand Court Toss Virginia Lawsuit Against Health Care Law Lifesite
U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius argued that Congress was well within its rights to impose a national health insurance mandate under the interstate Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution, and said Virginia and other states could not “manufacture its own standing to challenge a federal law by simple expedient of passing a statute purporting to nullify it."The new law mandates that all U.S. citizens must purchase health insurance or face a fine starting in 2014.
The federal government further claimed that, because the mandate applies "only to individuals, not the state government," the commonwealth has no standing to pursue the case. Officials also insisted that Congress had broad authority to issue the mandate, which it called "essential" to the whole scheme of the health care reform law.
In a statement following the filing of the motion, Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli stated: “We are still looking through the motion and 39-page brief that we received late Monday, but at initial glance, this is pretty close to what we expected.” Cuccinelli has until June 7 to respond to the motion. Virginia had been the first state to fire a warning shot against the federal government over constitutional overreach as the health care bill was impending, by passing a bill declaring any federal mandate to require individuals to purchase health insurance null and void in the commonwealth.
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