Bill McCollum

Florida AG's Lead Role On Lawsuit

Zachary Roth | March 26, 2010, 9:46AM

Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum

Florida Attorney General Bob McCollum, in the midst of a run for governor, is eager to take credit for leading the effort to get health-care reform struck down by the courts.

McCollum and 12 of his fellow state AGs, all but one Republican, filed suit earlier this week in Federal Court in the northern district of Florida, arguing that the law is unconstitutional. (We assessed the lawsuit's slim chances of success here.) And now McCollum's office has explained to TPMmuckraker how he quarterbacked the effort.

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David Rivkin

Behind The Lawsuit: Florida AG Turned To Beltway Fixture -- And Old Lobbying Pal -- For Health-Care Challenge

Zachary Roth | March 25, 2010, 11:42AM

Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum and attorney David Rivkin, Jr.

Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum has so far served as the public face for the legal challenge to the constitutionality of health-care reform. But on the legal heavy-lifting, McCollum has had help from a top member of Washington's conservative legal establishment and former Bush 41 White House lawyer, who once teamed up with the AG as a lobbyist.

David Rivkin, a lawyer with white-shoe DC firm Baker Hostetler, told TPMmuckraker that McCollum personally asked him to get involved with the lawsuit, once it appeared that the reform bill would indeed finally pass. "McCollum approached me on behalf of himself and several other AGs," said Rivkin, who along with Lee Casey, another Baker Hostetler lawyer, is listed on the lawsuit as "of counsel."

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Health Care

Could SCOTUS Be The Death Panel For Health-Care Reform?

Zachary Roth | March 23, 2010, 12:36PM

From left, Attorneys General Bill McCollum (FL), Ken Cuccinelli (VA) and Henry McMaster (SC)

Now that President Obama has signed health-care reform into law, opponents of the bill are pinning their hopes of stopping it on a last-ditch legal strategy. A group of 13 state attorneys general has filed suit (pdf), arguing that the law is unconstitutional.

The bid seems far-fetched at first. But the Roberts Court has recently shown a willingness to strike down landmark legislation -- charges of judicial activism be damned. So, given the stakes, it's worth asking: Could health-care reform have made it through the congressional gauntlet, only to end up dying in the courts?

(Late Update: The Justice Department is signaling that it's already gearing up for a fight. "We will vigorously defend the constitutionality of the health care reform statute," a DOJ spokesman says.)

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