Frivolous Health Care Reform Lawsuit's Scarce Defenders
Steve Benen - Washington Monthly - March 31, 2010
Finding an ambitious, far-right state attorney general willing to
waste tax dollars challenging the constitutionality of the Affordable
Care Act is easy. Finding legal experts who think their case has any
merit at all is surprisingly difficult
<http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/03/debate_planners_cant_\
find_anyone_to_argue_that_hea.php> .
The University of Washington tried to organize a debate on whether the
health-care reform bill is constitutional. But it couldn't find a law
professor to argue that it isn't, reports the Seattle Times.
"I will say that we tried very hard to get a professor who could come
and who thinks this is flat-out unconstitutional," said the moderator.
"But there are relatively few of them, and they are in great demand."
Even a former Bush/Cheney U.S. attorney was on hand, and he agreed that
the Republican litigation not only lacks merit, but should be "seen as a
political exercise
<http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2011483297_healthdebate\
31m.html> ."
Elsewhere, however, Republicans continue to take the frivolous lawsuit
seriously. In Georgia, for example, state Attorney General Thurbert
Baker (D) said he would not waste taxpayer money on the case that no
serious person can defend. As of yesterday, 31 Republicans in the state
legislature had signed a resolution calling for the AG's impeachment
<http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/31/us/politics/31georgia.html> .
Seriously.
"It's a disappointing response by some members of our legislature,"
Baker said. "I don't think it speaks well for the future of this state
or the image of Georgia."
You don't say.
As of now, 14 states, thanks to conservative attorneys general with time
and public resources to waste, are pushing a lawsuit against the new
health care law that even conservative legal experts consider a weak
joke. It was 13, but Indiana's AG signed on this week.
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2010_03/023138.php
