Free Republic

OLYMPIA — State Attorney General Rob McKenna said Monday he'll join a lawsuit challenging the health-care overhaul passed by Congress, prompting a barrage of attacks from Gov. Chris Gregoire and other state Democratic leaders. McKenna is among at least 10 state attorneys general who say they will sue, arguing the legislation's requirement that everyone purchase health insurance is an unconstitutional expansion of federal authority. "If the state AGs don't step up when they see a constitutional defect, then who will? It's not going to be [U.S. Attorney General] Eric Holder," said McKenna, a Republican. The lawsuit, to be filed after...

Virginia's lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the federal health-care reform law has formally been filed. Within five minutes of President Obama signing the bill at a White House ceremony this morning, state solicitor general E. Duncan Getchell Jr. and Deputy Attorney General for Civil Litigation Wesley G. "Wes" Russell Jr. headed to the elevators of their sixth-floor office in Richmond and strolled outside, where they were greeted by television cameras, for the short walk to Richmond's federal courthouse.

Idaho joined with 12 other states in suing the federal government Tuesday immediately after President Obama signed the new health-care bill into law. Thirteen Republican state attorneys general sued to block the law, calling it unconstitutional. Idaho Gov. Butch Otter said the lawsuit was needed to "stop this insanity." "The sovereignty of the state of Idaho is very important to us," Otter said in an televised interview on Fox News. The lawsuit says the health care reform law infringes on the sovereignty of the states by imposing onerous new operating rules that they must follow, Idaho Attorney General Lawrence Wasden...

Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott today said that Texas will join what is now a total of 12 states in a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of federal health care reform legislation.The suit will be filed as soon as President Obama signs the bill into law. Abbott said, “"The state has been put into a situation where our liberties are being trampled on in an unprecedented fashion because of swift over-reaching action and the state it being forced to the courthouse.”

JUNEAU -- Gov. Sean Parnell calls newly passed federal health care legislation unconstitutional and "public policy at its worst." His attorney general is reviewing the measure to determine if the state may join others in suing over the issue, though a Department of Law spokesman cautioned against a rush to judgment. snip "For the many Alaskans currently unable to afford insurance, this legislation will do nothing but require that they purchase health insurance," he said. "This bill will increase insurance premiums and do very little to ensure that patients have access to needed health care professionals."

As liberal groups begin plotting to spend millions of dollars to “sell” Obamacare to Americans in swing House districts, at least 12 state attorneys general are mounting an effort to stop Obamacare in its tracks on constitutional grounds. At issue is the provision in Obamacare that forces Americans to buy health insurance or face an annual $750 fine. Richmond Times-Dispatch reports that Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli plans to sue the federal government on grounds that the mandate violates the Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution: “At no time in our history has the government mandated its citizens buy a...

Attorneys general from at least 12 states say they will challenge the constitutionality of the healthcare reform bill passed by the House of Representatives Sunday night. The threatened action suggests the controversial measure is about to move from the legislative realm into what could become a protracted and messy fight in the courts. The attorneys general say they will sue once President Obama signs the bill into law. They are pledging to take their battle all the way to the US Supreme Court. “The health care legislation Congress passed tonight is an assault against the Constitution,” said South Carolina Attorney...