You can now add Georgia to the long list of states that are challenging the constitutionality of the ObamaCare socialized medicine law that Democrats in Congress passed in early 2010.
Georgia’s new attorney general, Republican Sam Olens, said he will have Georgia added to the nearly two dozen states that have already filed suit against ObamaCare. Four other states also are seeking to join the lawsuit, and Virginia has filed suit separately. (Tennessee has not sued.)
The legal measures against ObamaCare are a reflection of the broad public unpopularity of the medical “reform.” Polls show sharp dislike of ObamaCare.
Georgia’s former Democrat attorney general, Thurbert Baker, had refused to make the state part of the legal challenge. Outgoing Georgia Republican Gov. Sonny Perdue had sought to have the state become part of the lawsuit anyway, by appointing a special attorney for that purpose. But the incoming attorney general’s willingness to join the suit means the effort “will have the full weight of the state behind it,” Olens said.
The states contend – correctly – that ObamaCare is an unconstitutional encroachment in that it forces practically everyone to purchase medical insurance and forces the states to expand their Medicaid programs. We see no granting of any such power to Washington by the Constitution, which is clear about the limited powers that are delegated to the federal government.
Wisconsin Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen, whose state is also joining the lawsuit, declared: “Never before has the federal government passed a law requiring somebody to buy something just by virtue of their existence. This is unprecedented. If they can regulate that, they can regulate anything.”
We would prefer that ObamaCare be repealed by Congress rather than be struck down by the courts. But given Democrats’ control of the U.S. Senate and the president’s certain veto of any anti-ObamaCare effort, repeal is far from likely. So we hope the Supreme Court ultimately will correctly rule that ObamaCare is unconstitutional.