June 15, 2011
Lt. Governor Kinder Files Brief in Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals challenging federal healthcare law
ST. LOUIS – The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit on Tuesday accepted the brief Missouri Lt. Governor Peter Kinder and Samantha Hill filed in their challenge to the constitutionality of the so-called “Individual Mandate” provision of the federal healthcare law. Kinder called upon the court to declare unconstitutional the provision making Missouri citizens buy a federally mandated insurance policy.
Kinder said Missouri voters sent a clear message when they overwhelmingly approved the Health Care Freedom Act last August. Missouri voters’ message to overreaching liberal politicians in Washington was this: “Stay out of our health care decisions!”
“The judges in two other federal courts already declared this law to be unconstitutional,” Kinder said. “We were disappointed U.S. District Judge Sippel sidestepped this important issue. But we believe the Eighth Circuit can – and should – address this issue of great constitutional importance to every Missouri citizen. And we are hopeful they will.”
Kinder said defenders of the federal health care law known as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act or PPACA have yet to adequately address the fundamental problem Missourians have with the law. That is the issue of “individual mandates” – the law’s centerpiece and the focus of the appeal filed in the Eighth Circuit. “Simply put, the Constitution does not give the federal government the power to force citizens to buy things against their will,” he said.
“What Congress has done is to order every American to buy a specific type of health insurance policy defined by the federal government. Should you refuse, you face the full authority of the federal government – with the IRS used to enforce compliance,” Kinder said. “This is not regulation of activity affecting interstate commerce, as the government spuriously contends. Rather, this is the ‘nanny state’ using the iron fist of the federal government to coerce citizens to buy a product which a bare majority of Congress happens to think they should buy.
“Nancy Pelosi should not be picking Missourians’ insurance policies,” he added. “This is precisely the type of government tyranny the founders sought to prevent by creating a national government with only a few, well-defined powers. Congress’ strong-arming of citizens has always been repugnant to the Constitution’s guarantee of liberty.”
Lt. Governor Kinder Files Brief in Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals challenging federal healthcare law
ST. LOUIS – The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit on Tuesday accepted the brief Missouri Lt. Governor Peter Kinder and Samantha Hill filed in their challenge to the constitutionality of the so-called “Individual Mandate” provision of the federal healthcare law. Kinder called upon the court to declare unconstitutional the provision making Missouri citizens buy a federally mandated insurance policy.
Kinder said Missouri voters sent a clear message when they overwhelmingly approved the Health Care Freedom Act last August. Missouri voters’ message to overreaching liberal politicians in Washington was this: “Stay out of our health care decisions!”
“The judges in two other federal courts already declared this law to be unconstitutional,” Kinder said. “We were disappointed U.S. District Judge Sippel sidestepped this important issue. But we believe the Eighth Circuit can – and should – address this issue of great constitutional importance to every Missouri citizen. And we are hopeful they will.”
Kinder said defenders of the federal health care law known as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act or PPACA have yet to adequately address the fundamental problem Missourians have with the law. That is the issue of “individual mandates” – the law’s centerpiece and the focus of the appeal filed in the Eighth Circuit. “Simply put, the Constitution does not give the federal government the power to force citizens to buy things against their will,” he said.
“What Congress has done is to order every American to buy a specific type of health insurance policy defined by the federal government. Should you refuse, you face the full authority of the federal government – with the IRS used to enforce compliance,” Kinder said. “This is not regulation of activity affecting interstate commerce, as the government spuriously contends. Rather, this is the ‘nanny state’ using the iron fist of the federal government to coerce citizens to buy a product which a bare majority of Congress happens to think they should buy.
“Nancy Pelosi should not be picking Missourians’ insurance policies,” he added. “This is precisely the type of government tyranny the founders sought to prevent by creating a national government with only a few, well-defined powers. Congress’ strong-arming of citizens has always been repugnant to the Constitution’s guarantee of liberty.”
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