Posts Tagged ‘Virginia’

From newsleader.com:

On July 1, Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli entered oral argument for Virginians’ liberty from the federal mandate to buy health insurance. The court case, Commonwealth of Virginia vs. Sebelious, is not about health care. It is about liberty. It is about one of the first principles of our Constitution to keep our God-given, individual right to choose what we do with our lives and not be forced to purchase a product mandated by the federal government.

The unconstitutional federal mandate is in conflict with Virginia’s state law, H.B. 10, Health Care Freedom Act. The right to make laws of this kind, according to the Constitution, is the purview of state governments. Virginia law cannot be ignored or trampled on by the out-of-control federal government. Virginians want our day in court on the point that the feds cannot force us to buy health insurance and we cannot be fined if we choose not to buy the insurance. The Tenth Amendment is very specific in that regard.

“The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”

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From Godanriver.com:

nowBuzz up!

Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli today makes his case to keep his lawsuit against President Barack Obama’s federal health-care reform legislation alive and kicking.

Cuccinelli and a team of deputy attorneys general will argue before U.S. District Court Judge Henry E. Hudson against a motion by lawyers for the Obama administration to dismiss Virginia’s challenge to the legislation.

Virginia is arguing that a provision that would force nearly every American to obtain health insurance by 2014, or pay a penalty, violates the Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution by compelling Americans to engage in commerce.

As a result, a recently passed law in Virginia stating that Virginians do not have to purchase insurance should prevail. Twenty other states have joined a similar lawsuit filed by Florida.

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From Hampton Roads:

Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli defended his challenge to the federal health care overhaul in a court filing Monday, arguing that the case centers on whether Congress overstepped its powers.

Cuccinelli filed suit in March, moments after President Barack Obama signed into law a health care plan that supporters say will better regulate insurance companies and extend coverage to millions of uninsured Americans, including the elderly, the poor and those whose ailments limit their ability to secure coverage.

To critics, the law amounts to excessive government spending – it boasts an estimated price tag of $1 trillion in the coming years – that comes on the heels of an economic downturn and adds to the national debt. In Virginia, officials have said additional Medicaid costs associated with the health plan may approach $1.5 billion by 2022.

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From Richmond Times-Dispatch:

Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli is being accused of a lot of things these days. False advertising isn’t one of them.

“No one could have listened to a single campaign speech of Ken Cuccinelli and be surprised that he’s challenging the federal government,” former Virginia Attorney General Jerry Kilgore said.

Cuccinelli, a 41-year-old conservative Republican and former state senator from Fairfax County, has filed two high-profile lawsuits against the federal government in just more than two months in office, and he shows no signs of slowing down.

“I ran giving full notice that it was our intention to oppose federal overreaches of power,” Cuccinelli said during a news briefing this week by Gov. Bob McDonnell on the federal health-care reform bill. “And this is clearly such an overreach.”

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From NPR:

Another hurdle for the health-care bill will be litigation. Attorneys general in at least 12 states are preparing to challenge its constitutionality. One of them is Ken Cuccinelli, whos attorney general of Virginia. He joins us by phone from Fairfax County, Virginia. Welcome to the program.

Mr. KEN CUCCINELLI (Attorney General, Virginia): Glad to be here.

CONAN: And in your view, what’s unconstitutional about the health-care bill?

Mr. CUCCINELLI: The General Assembly of Virginia this year passed a statute that protects Virginia citizens from being mandated to buy health insurance. It passed on a bipartisan basis. And, of course, the federal health-care bill has a mandate to do just that. There’s a conflict between those laws. And while normally the supremacy clause leaves federal laws trumping, not when they are unconstitutional. And it is our position that the individual mandate is unconstitutionally overbroad under the commerce clause, that the Congress doesn’t have the power to impose this on individuals.

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