Memorandum – States file response to Department of Justice in health care lawsuit

Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum and Attorney General-elect Pam Bondi
today announced the States and the National Federation of Independent
Business, which are the Plaintiffs in the health care lawsuit, have filed
their motion in response to the U.S. Department of Justice’s motion for
summary judgment. The motion, which refers to the Department of Justice and
other named parties as the Defendants, first addresses whether the
individual mandate is constitutional.

“To sustain the Act, Defendants ask the Court to rewrite the Constitution
and fundamentally alter the relationships between the federal government
and the States and between the federal government and the American people,”
wrote the States in their motion. “Never before has Congress purported to
use its power over interstate commerce to compel activity, rather than to
regulate existing economic activity.”

The motion further discusses whether the burdens imposed on the States
constitutes a commandeering of state resources and dismisses the Department
of Justice’s suggestion that States could withdraw from the voluntary
Medicaid program if the burden became too great.

“The ACA further violates the Constitution by coercing the States’
participation in its new Medicaid regime and by commandeering their
resources to achieve the federal government’s ends,” wrote the States in
their motion. “Defendants ask the Court to believe that Medicaid remains
purely voluntary, and that any State may simply withdraw to avoid the new
costs and burdens. However, there is no mechanism under law for such a
withdrawal – much less for an orderly transition that would not jeopardize
the health and lives of the millions of poor and needy who depend on the
States’ Medicaid programs… The ACA’s architecture inherently depends on the
States remaining in Medicaid.”

A copy of the States’ motion, filed last night in the Northern District
Court of Florida in Pensacola, will be available online today at

http://www.healthcarelawsuit.us.

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