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SALT LAKE CITY — Laws enacted in Utah and Idaho played a key role in persuading a federal judge Monday to find the Obama administration's health care legislation unconstitutional.
Related:
Judge: Obama's health overhaul unconstitutional
A federal judge in Florida ruled Monday that President Barack Obama's entire health care overhaul law is unconstitutional, placing even noncontroversial provisions under a cloud in a broad challenge that seems certain to be resolved only by the Supreme Court.The Utah law, signed last year by the governor before health care reform was passed in Washington, expressly prohibits Utah residents from being required to purchase health insurance. However, the federal overhaul produces an individual mandate to buy an individual health insurance plan or face a penalty.
"I must reluctantly conclude that Congress exceeded the bounds of its authority in passing the act with the individual mandate," U.S. District Judge Roger Vinson wrote in his 78-page decision. "That is not to say, of course, that Congress is without power to address the problems and inequities in our health care system."
Vinson pointed out that because of existing Utah and Idaho laws, all 26 states had sufficient standing to represent their residents in fighting for individual Constitutional rights — a point that attorneys for the administration had originally argued against.
He wrote, "the states of Idaho and Utah, through plaintiff attorneys General Lawrence G. Wasden and Mark L. Shurtleff, have standing to prosecute this case based on statutes duly passed by their legislatures, and signed into law by their governors." He added that because the two states have such laws enacted, it "eliminates the need to discuss the standing issue with respect to the other state plaintiffs."
Monday's decision by Vinson, who called the entire health care law unconstitutional, signals a victory for attorneys general in 26 states, including Utah.
I must reluctantly conclude that Congress exceeded the bounds of its authority in passing the act with the individual mandate. That is not to say that Congress is without power to address the problems and inequities in our health care system.
–U.S. District Judge Roger Vinson
"It is not about health care at the end of the day, it is about defining the limits of Congressional power," Utah chief deputy attorney general John Swallow said, adding that the attorney general's office is not necessarily against health care reform, but wants it to be done in a lawful manner.
"We want to stand on a wall and protect people's rights," Swallow said.
The lawsuit, filed in a conservative Pensacola court, is one of dozens that have been filed in federal courts across the country, but Vinson's is one of the most significant stances on the law that aims to cover America's 30 million uninsured by 2014.
"If Congress intends to implement health care reform — and there would appear to be widespread agreement across the political spectrum that reform is needed — it should do a comprehensive examination of the Act and make a legislative determination as to which of its hundreds of provisions and sections will work as intended without the individual mandate, and which will not," Vinson wrote.
Candace Daly, Utah's director of the National Federation of Independent Businesses, said the organization joined the case to "protect the rights of small-business owners to own, operate and grow their businesses free from unnecessary government intervention." She was pleased with Vinson's decision and said the health care law undermines the purpose of small businesses and "gives the federal government entirely too much power."
The suit could now be headed for the U.S. Supreme Court; however, Swallow mentioned it might hit a few stops in the appeals process along the way. But unless Congress is successful in repealing the act, he says the states' suit will ultimately land in the high court — which is right where the plaintiffs want it to be.
E-mail: wleonard@desnews.com
