South Carolina attorney general Alan Wilson has joined a twenty-state coalition urging a federal district court to find that Obamacare’s individual mandate is unconstitutional – and to “enjoin the entire law” as a result.
“I’ve always fought for the rule of law and the preservation of freedom and this law is clearly unconstitutional,” Wilson said in a statement. “The U.S. Supreme Court has already ruled that Congress cannot force citizens to buy health insurance. I swore an oath to uphold the Constitution so I have to be part of this fight to throw out the law.”
The lawsuit – originally filed by Wisconsin attorney general Brad Schimel and Texas attorney general Ken Paxton – argues that Obamacare is now invalid because the tax associated with its controversial individual mandate has been repealed by congress as part of the 2017 “Republican” tax plan.
Without this tax, a controversial U.S. Supreme Court ruling affirming the law (and the individual mandate) on the basis of congress exercising its authority to tax no longer applies.
“On December 22, 2017, the President signed into law the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017,” the lawsuit stated. “This new legislation eliminated the tax penalty of the ACA (a.k.a. Obamacare), without eliminating the mandate itself. What remains, then, is the individual mandate, without any accompanying exercise of Congress’s taxing power, which the Supreme Court already held that Congress has no authority to enact. Not only is the individual mandate now unlawful, but this core provision is not severable from the rest of the ACA – as four Justices of the Supreme Court already concluded. In fact, Congress stated in the legislative text that the ACA does not function without the individual mandate.”
[timed-content-server show=”2018-Feb-15 00:00:00″ hide=”2018-Mar-01 00:00:00″]SPONSORED CONTENT (ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW)
Learn More at www.catherinetempleton.com
[/timed-content-server]Translation? Obamacare is now unconstitutional in its entirety … at least according to the twenty states participating in this lawsuit.
The suit was filed this week in Fort Worth – home of the U.S. district court’s northwest Texas division. It names the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) as defendants.
Here’s a look at the pleading …
[tnc-pdf-viewer-iframe file=”https://www.fitsnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/01610230.pdf” width=”533″ height=”800″ download=”true” print=”true” fullscreen=”true” share=”true” zoom=”true” open=”true” pagenav=”true” logo=”false” find=”true” language=”en-US” page=”” default_zoom=”auto” pagemode=””]
(Via: U.S. District Court)
Our view? We support this effort … and the attorneys general who are participating in it (including Wilson).
We believe the U.S. Supreme Court erred in its determination that Obamacare and its individual mandate were constitutional based on government’s authority to tax, but that’s what they ruled. Now that this tax has been eliminated, though, it seems clear to us that the mandate – and the law itself – are invalid.
Of course all this legal wrangling could have been avoided if “Republicans” – who won the U.S. House and Senate on the basis of their repeated vows to repeal Obamacare – had simply made good on their promises.
***
WANNA SOUND OFF?
Got something you’d like to say in response to one of our stories? Please feel free to submit your own guest column or letter to the editor via-email HERE. Got a tip for us? CLICK HERE. Got a technical question or a glitch to report? CLICK HERE. Want to support what we’re doing? SUBSCRIBE HERE.
Banner: iStock