Bill McCollum Cheers Judge Allowing Obamacare Lawsuit to Continue

Attorney General Bill McCollum cheered the decision by U.S. District Judge Roger Vinson that the suit McCollum launched against the federal government for President Barack Obama's new health-care laws can proceed.

This ruling is a victory for the states, small businesses and the American people, said McCollum. It is the first step to having the individual mandate declared unconstitutional and upholding state sovereignty in our federal system, and means this case will go forward to the summary judgment hearing that the court has set for Dec. 16.

Congress has no constitutional authority to force the individual mandate and its penalty on Americans who cannot afford or do not wish to have health insurance, added McCollum, who was joined by 19 other states and the National Federation of Independent Business in the challenge. Regardless of whether the Obama administration argues it is a tax or regulation, it is an unjust burden on the American public.

Furthermore, our system of federalism under the U.S. Constitution ensures that federal government cannot bully the states by forcing us into a no-win decision, continued McCollum. Obamacare imposes a massive expansion of the Medicaid entitlement program on the states a financial burden that states and taxpayers do not want and cannot afford.

This ruling confirms the significance of this lawsuit protecting against the federal health care acts intrusions on individual liberty and limited government, concluded McCollum.