Legal News

Health Care: With Legislative Battle Ending, Will Legal Challenges Follow?

By Ashby Jones

You might have spent the weekend enjoying the Great Outdoors — it was downright springlike here in the northeast. You might have spent all Sunday watching basketball, wondering when and how Cornell got so, well, good.

But if you came within a stone’s throw of a news report, you know that the health care bill — the bill that’s been at the center of the national conversation for well over a year — got a thumbs-up vote in the House. It’s passage looks all but certain at this point.

Something else that’s a near certainty: the bill’s passage will spawn lawsuits.

Throughout the months, we’ve chronicled the myriad types of constitutional challenges likely to be lodged (here, here, here and here). And now, according to the NYT, these will likely begin. Reads the story:

Attorneys general in three states - Virginia, Florida and South Carolina - have indicated they will file legal challenges to the measure, on the grounds that it violates the Constitution by requiring individuals to purchase insurance.

Folks in Virginia, according to the story, appear eager to challenge the bill on two other grounds as well — that Congress’s power to regulate interstate commerce does not extend to a bill this far-reaching, and that the bill conflicts with a state law saying that no Virginian shall be compelled to buy insurance.

"This is such an incredible federal overreach," said Virginia’s attorney general, Ken Cuccinelli. Cuccinelli added, however, that there was “no rush” to enjoin the bill from taking effect, as the so-called “individual mandate” does not take effect until 2013.

Of course, the White House and Democrats will marshal their legal forces as well, and will “coordinate a state-by-state response to any prospective challenges.”

For his part, aides said, Mr. Obama will lead the effort to define the bill, but also will shift his focus to the economy and jobs. A campaign, featuring Mr. Obama and examples of people who benefited from health care, will take place in the coming months.

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on March 22, 2010 (boomark / email).