NASHVILLE - Thirteen Republican lawmaker want state Supreme Court justices on Monday to ask candidates for Tennessee attorney general whether they would have joined other states in challenging the Affordable Care Act in 2011.
Many of those legislators are among conservatives who tried to unseat three Democratic justices in the Aug. 7 retention election.
The effort ultimately flopped, but it became the most expensive judicial election in Tennessee history as outside groups jumped in and spent heavily to oust Justices Sharon Lee, Gary Wade and Connie Clark.
Among those wanting the question posed about the Affordable Care Act lawsuit is Sen. Mike Bell, R-Riceville, a leader in the effort to oust the justices.
A good part of the judicial ouster effort centered on conservative criticism of current Attorney General Bob Cooper, a Democrat and Chattanooga native who did not join the anti-Obamacare lawsuit filed by mostly Republican state attorneys general. The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the ACA's constitutionality.
Bell said he had hoped to ask the AG candidates the Obamacare lawsuit question himself. But the format chosen by the five justices, who appoint the attorney general, doesn't permit that, Bell noted.
He said he believes it needs to be asked because a "majority of Tennesseans" oppose Obamacare.
And the question gets at a larger issue than just the Affordable Care Act, he said.
The attorney general "defends laws passed by the Legislature," said Bell, chairman of the Senate Government Operations Committee.
"Along with a great many Tennesseans, we want to know whether the other applicants would have pursued a case like the majority of other states to defend our sovereignty."
Sen. Janice Bowling, R-Tullahoma, said in a news release that the attorney general "serves as the top lawyer for the citizens of this state." Calling the ACA an "overreach of federal power," she said, "We hope that this question will be posed and believe it will provide great insight for the public regarding these applicants."
Nashville attorney Bob Tuke, a former Tennessee Democratic Party chairman, charged Republican lawmakers were doing some overreaching of their own.
"They're overstepping the bounds of the separation of powers and it's entirely inappropriate," Tuke said.
Moreover, Tuke said, "it puts those candidates for attorney general in a very uncomfortable position because they've not studied that position, I presume. It was a matter of very careful study by Bob Cooper. I know that."
Besides Cooper, seven candidates, including Republican Gov. Bill Haslam's legal counsel, Herb Slatery, and Administrative Officer of the Courts Bill Young, have applied for the post.
The five-member Supreme Court includes two Republicans recently appointed by Haslam, who did not join the effort to defeat the three Democratic justices.
The court has said each hopeful will get 10 minutes to make a public presentation. It's unclear whether the justices will deliberate publicly or behind closed doors.
Speculation is rampant in Democratic circles, meanwhile, that neither Slatery nor Young would have applied if at least one of the Democratic justices wasn't open to naming a Republican.
Tennessee has never had a Republican state attorney general.
The Knoxville News Sentinel last week quoted Lee, who is now chief justice, saying partisan politics won't have a place in the selection of a new state attorney general.
Contact staff writer Andy Sher at asher@timesfreepress.com or 615-255-0550.