Long before the House of Representatives considered the repeal of Obamacare, Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli was leading the way to undo the law in the courtroom.
Virginia’s lawsuit against Obamacare has been a rallying cry for opponents of the health care takeover from the beginning, and Cuccinelli has vowed to proudly carry that banner to the end. He spoke to Heritage last year about Virginia’s case.
“I don’t think in my lifetime we’ve seen one statute that so erodes liberty than this health care bill,” Cuccinelli told us. “Certainly, we view our lawsuit as being not merely about health care. That’s actually secondary to the real important aspect of the case, and that is to protect the Constitution, as we essentially define the outer limits of federal power. If we lose, it’s very much the end of federalism as we’ve known it for over 220 years.”
The U.S. Constitution has always been at the core of Virginia’s Obamacare challenge, which asserts that the health care law is unconstitutional because it mandates individuals to buy health insurance. Virginia won the first round: In August, U.S. District Court Judge Henry Hudson ruled that Virginia raised a valid substantive theory to challenge Obamacare. But the federal government will likely appeal that decision. For Cuccinelli, the case can’t end up in the U.S. Supreme Court fast enough.
“America needs an answer to this question,” he said.
Apparently, the majority of state attorneys general feel the same way. More than half of all states are suing to stop Obamacare. Oklahoma is pursuing its own lawsuit, while 24 attorneys general and the National Federation of Independent Businesses have united to sue the federal government.
Read more about Cuccinelli’s case and watch Heritage’s interview with him.
