Tipsheet

GOP Senators File Friend of the Court Brief in Suit Against ObamaCare

Elisabeth Meinecke
Elisabeth Meinecke  |  May 11, 2011 4:45 PM
Forty-four GOP senators have signed onto a brief filed in support of several states' challenge to ObamaCare, which is being spearheaded by Florida (this is different from Virginia's lawsuit against ObamaCare that had hearings in the 4th Circuit yesterday).

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell's letter to colleagues highlights two key points of the case: first, that the federal government forces Americans to buy something via the individual mandate, an alarming precedent to establish, and, second, that "there will no longer be any meaningful limit on Congress’s power to regulate its citizens under the Commerce Clause." 

"Congress’s specific power under that clause will be transformed into a general police power," the letter says, explaining this basically eliminates the distinction between federal and state regulatory authority.

Here are the senators who signed the brief: Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN), Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-NH), Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY), Sen. Roy Blunt (R-MO), Sen. John Boozman (R-AR), Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC), Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-GA), Sen. Daniel Coats (R-IN), Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK), Sen. Thad Cochran (R-MS), Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN), Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), Sen.  Mike Crapo (R-ID), Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC), Sen. Michael Enzi (R-WY), Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT), Sen. Dean Heller (R-NV), Sen. John Hoeven (R-ND), Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX), Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK), Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-GA), Sen. Mike Johanns (R-NE), Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI), Sen. Mark Kirk (R-IL), Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ), Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT), Sen. Richard Lugar (R-IN), Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Sen. Jerry Moran (R-KS), Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH), Sen. James Risch (R-ID), Sen. Pat Roberts (R-KS), Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL), Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME), Sen. John Thune (R-SD), Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA), Sen. David Vitter (R-LA), Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS).