J.B. Van Hollen

Wisc. AG's Office Asked GOP Consultant For Advice On HCR Lawsuit

Zachary Roth | April 28, 2010, 12:57PM

Wisconsin Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen

When Wisconsin attorney general J.B. Van Hollen announced last month that he wanted to follow in the footsteps of several other AGs by suing the federal government over health-care reform, he presented the issue as a pressing legal and constitutional priority. "Wisconsin must act to protect its sovereign interests and the interests of the citizens of this state by bringing an action to contest the constitutionality of the (law)," Van Hollen, a Republican, wrote in a letter to the governor.

That may be how he sees things. But emails released this week by Van Hollen's office suggest that politics was hardly absent from the initiative.

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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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Health Care

GOP AGs Escalate Constitutional Battle Against Health Bill

Justin Elliott | December 31, 2009, 10:07AM

South Carolina Attorney General Henry McMaster

The group of Republican attorneys general threatening a constitutional challenge of the so-called "Cornhusker Kickback" in the Senate health bill yesterday wrote a letter to Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi outlining their complaints. 13 AGs, several of whom are running for governor, signed the letter.

The letter has sparked a new round of media coverage, with little analysis of the constitutional arguments being cited. Under the provision in question, all of Nebraska's expanded Medicaid costs would be covered by the federal government, with other states splitting the cost.

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Health Care

Republican AGs Cycle Through Thin Constitutional Arguments Against Health Bill

Justin Elliott | December 29, 2009, 5:40PM

Attorneys General John Suthers of Colorado and Henry McMaster of South Carolina

The group of Republican state attorneys general waging a public campaign against the Nebraska Medicaid provision in the Senate health bill appear to be scrambling to come up with a valid constitutional argument, already discarding one obscure objection and coming up with two new arguments -- which legal experts say are still flimsy.

When the effort was first announced last week, the Republican AGs  stuck to vague language about the (undisputed) unfairness of the "Cornhusker Kickback." Now, they've begun to do more research, or perhaps get more advice, and the result has been no less than three successive arguments against the measure.

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Health Care

Law Prof: GOP State AGs' Objection To Health Bill Is 'Crazy Talk'

Justin Elliott | December 28, 2009, 1:03PM

South Carolina Attorney General Henry McMaster and Sen. Jim Demint (R-SC)

The arguments of a group of Republican state attorneys general who are talking up a constitutional challenge to the "Cornhusker Kickback" provision of the health care bill are "strictly political" and do not have legal merit, a law professor tells TPMmuckraker.

"If a private individual brought the suit, the court might assess a fine for bringing a frivolous suit," says Timothy Jost, a health law specialist at the Washington and Lee University School of Law who favors the reform bill.

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Health Care

GOP State AGs Prepare To Challenge Health Care Provision

Justin Elliott | December 24, 2009, 9:50AM

South Carolina Attorney General Henry McMaster

Here's one that bears watching in the new year ...

South Carolina's attorney general is leading nine other state AGs -- all Republicans -- in threatening to sue over the provision of the health care bill that exempts Nebraska from new Medicaid costs, a measure secured by Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE).

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