Lawsuit to feds: Constitution says, 'No you can't'

The newest legal brief in a court challenge to "Obamacare," the president's nationalization of health care, says the Constitution simply doesn't allow the federal government to demand a payment for not doing something. The case was brought by the Thomas More Law Center on behalf of several individuals. It challenges the government's plan to force individuals to buy health-care insurance and pay for abortions, among other issues, or be penalized. It was brought in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan and seeks an injunction to halt the plan. In a brief in support of their request for a preliminary injunction, the plaintiffs argue that there's not even any dispute. "This case is about the fundamental relationship between the power of the federal government, which is limited by the Constitution, and the liberty interests of those it governs," said the brief, filed just days ago. "Defendants' explanation of the national health care problems this country is facing and the efforts by the federal government to provide solutions to them through the Health Care Reform is, at the end of the day, beside the point." The brief said, "Defendants' arguments ultimately claim for the federal government the power to force all Americans … to engage in a commercial transaction in which they otherwise would not engage. … Defendants do not – because they cannot – refute plaintiffs' claim that if the federalgovernment does possess such power, then it also has the power to force private citizens 'to engage in [other] affirmative acts, under penalty of law, such as taking vitamins, losing weight, joining health clubs, buying a GMC truck, or purchasing an AIGinsurance policy.'"...more