Abbott explains that:
“The brief highlights the financial burden the new law puts on states by forcing them to spend billions of additional dollars to expand entitlement programs.
“The states explain that they are already devoting tremendous financial resources to prepare for the imposition of the federal health care takeover.
“The states emphasize that Congress has limited powers, and those powers do not include the power to force Americans to purchase insurance. Congress cannot regulate inactivity, and yet the law tries to do just that. The law tries to force Americans – against their will – into the activity of buying insurance.
“By exerting such sweeping authority over Americans’ individual decisions, Congress is attempting to expand federal authority and seize powers that are restricted by the Tenth Amendment.”
A hearing on the federal government’s motion to dismiss is scheduled for Sept. 14. The federal government failed in its first attempt to dismiss a similar state action, brought by the Commonwealth of Virginia, in a ruling handed down Aug. 2.
The 20-state coalition includes Texas, Florida, South Carolina, Nebraska, Pennsylvania, Louisiana, Washington, Colorado, Michigan, Utah, Alabama, South Dakota, Idaho, Indiana, Mississippi, North Dakota, Arizona, Nevada, Georgia, and Alaska. The lawsuit is filed in the Federal District Court in the Northern District of Florida. The states are joined in this lawsuit by the National Federation of Independent Business, and individual plaintiffs Mary Brown and Kaj Ahlburg.
The lawsuit was filed shortly after President Barack Obama signed the bill into law. The legal action specifically challenges the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and names the U.S. Departments of Health and Human Services, Treasury and Labor as defendants because those federal agencies are charged with implementing the act’s constitutionally impermissible provisions.
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