Litigation

Thus does health care become a civil right

By Carter Wood

After the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia on Monday allowed Virginia's constitutional challenge to proceed against the new federal health care law, the White House blogged a response from Stephanie Cutter, Assistant to the President for Special Projects. She began her post, "On Today's Ruling in Virginia," with:

Since the enactment of health reform legislation in March, several state Attorneys General have filed lawsuits challenging the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act. Having failed in the legislative arena, opponents of reform are now turning to the courts in an attempt to overturn the work of the democratically elected branches of government. This is nothing new. We saw this with the Social Security Act, the Civil Rights Act, and the Voting Rights Act - constitutional challenges were brought to all three of these monumental pieces of legislation, and all of those challenges failed. So too will the challenge to health reform.

That's a lot of invidiousness packed into a single paragraph, especially for so early in the judicial process. How soon will it be before officials accuse the law's opponents of civil rights violations?

For a more legally minded reaction to the court, we refer you to the good folks at the Washington Legal Foundation, who just released a litigation update, "Court Rejects Government's Attempt to Dismiss Virginia's Legal Challenge."

Full post as published by Point of Law on August 03, 2010 (boomark / email).