IDAHO HEALTH FREEDOM ACT
From Huffpo: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...
Idaho Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter is the first state chief executive to sign a measure requiring his attorney general to sue the federal government if Congress passes health care reform.
"What the Idaho Health Freedom Act says is that the citizens of our state won't be subject to another federal mandate or turn over another part of their life to government control," Otter said.
While this law is likely to be struck down, it comes the heels of similar legislation passed by the State of Virginia, declaring it illegal for the federal government to require Virginians to buy health insurance.
Virginia Attorney General Kenneth Cuccinelli threatened Wednesday to file suit against the federal government if the health care reform bill in Congress is passed using "deem and pass", on the grounds that it violates Article I, Section 7 of the Constitution.
Other articles note that 37 other states are considering similar legislation.
The Idaho effort seems to be spearheaded by something called the "American Legislative Exchange Council".
In my completely uninformed opinion, the Idaho law is Republican political grandstanding that won't stand up to Federal Powers rulings under the principal of "Federal Preemption". However, Virginia passed a law that prohibits the Government from requiring their citizens to abide by the Federal HC mandate, which seems to be a direct Constitutional challenge.
A lawyer friend said that the rulings to pay attention to on this are that if it falls outside of Article 1 section 8 - then State Law trumps. And he also says the mandates are the key.
The talk of the Slaughter Rule seems to be ginning up the right's lawyers for a big court fight.
I noticed that the Idaho signing hadn't been diaried here today, and thought it might make for an interesting overnight discussion.