Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Arkansas Group Challenges The New Health Care Law

As reported in the Times Record, article "Group Fighting Mandate by John Lyon, a reporter for the Arkansas News Bureau, Wednesday April 28, 2010, front page."

A group called Secure Arkansas filed a lawsuit Tuesday in the U.S. District Court in Little Rock challenging the constitutionally of the federal health care legislation. Two oficers from the conservative grass-roots group alleges that the provision of the law requiring nearly all Americans to buy insurance exceeds Congress' power as difined in Article I of the U.S. Constitution.

The lawsuit was filed by the group's chairman Jeannie Burlsworth and it's state coordinator, Todd Sharp. They are also attempting to have it certified as a class-action lawsuit so that others wishing to, can piggy-back on their lawsuit. Secure Arkansas maintains that the provision also violates Article IV and the 10th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution which covers citizens sovereignty and taking on powers reserved to the states that are not delegated to the federal government.

The lawsuit names as defendants: U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, the Treasury Department, Secretary of the Treasury Timothy Geithner, the Labor Department and Labor Secretary Hilda Solis.

Presently, the State of Arkansas Attorney General Dustin McDaniel has declined to join in the lawsuit saying that he believes that suit would not succeed and would be politically motivated. The Arkansas Governor's spokesman, Matt DeCample, said that the governor agrees with McDaniel.

This is the first challenge to the lawsuit initiated by a nonprofit organization, but other nonprofit organizations have expressed interested in piggy-backing onto their suit . Declaring that the law subjects criminal penalty or fines against Arkansans that do not buy insurance.

Republicans state lawmakers, Reps. Frank Glidewell, Fort Smith, and Dan Greenberg, Little Rock, have proposed an interim study on state laws to "thwart the federal law." Chris Stewart, an attorney from Little Rock, will be representing the plaintiffs of the suit. Legal action will be funded by donations.

The Last Partner has no personal opinion of the law at this point. Where do you stand?

As stated above, this information from taken from an article in today's local newspaper.

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