AG Wilson Issues Statement on Supreme Court Health Care Oral Arguments

March 28, 2012 - South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson issued the following statements regarding the United States Supreme Court's oral arguments on severability and medicaid.

Severability:

"The individual mandate is the backbone of the health care law. Congress would not have passed the legislation without it. To see that point, one just has to recall the 'Cornhusker Kickback' debacle.

Without the individual mandate, the health care law cannot stand upright.

This is why I believe the Supreme Court will agree with the States that you cannot sever the individual mandate from the Affordable Care Act."

Medicaid:

"The Medicaid portions of the health care monstrosity are coercive acts of the federal government, forcing states to meet mandates we cannot afford.

States are having a loaded gun put to their heads by the federal government -- forcing them to choose between their fiscal and physical health.

The President's health care act deliberately places states in a catch-22. We cannot afford to expand our Medicaid roles, nor can we afford to lose our current federal funding. Unlike Congress, state legislatures must balance their budget year in and year out."

March 27, 2012 South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson issued the following statement today regarding the United States Supreme Court's oral arguments regarding the individual mandate.

"Today's two hour debate over the individual mandate will go down as one of the most important in our nation's history. Justice Anthony Kennedy put it best today when he said the health care mandate 'changes the relationship of the federal government to the individual in a very fundamental way.'

This law is a train wreck for our freedoms and the Constitution. It is a slippery slope with no end in sight. If upheld, the government could choose what cars we drive, what food we eat, and what clothes we wear.

As Justice Antonin Scalia said today, we are 'supposed to be a government of limited powers.' That is why South Carolina and twenty-five other states brought this law suit.

At day's end, I am cautiously optimistic that the Supreme Court Justices will rule that the health care mandate is unconstitutional."

Wilson is one of six attorneys general who was in the courtroom today as a member of the twenty-six state lawsuit's executive committee.

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March 26, 2012 Attorney General Alan Wilson issued the following statement regarding Monday’s Supreme Court Oral Arguments regarding the Anti-Injunction Act and the Health Care lawsuit.

"Today's packed courtroom and the multitude of questions showed that the nine Supreme Court Justices and the American people realize the magnitude of these unprecedented oral arguments.

One thing is clear, the President's lawyers are trying to have their cake and eat it too. Today, The Administration claimed that the President's signature healthcare legislation is not a tax increase. However, as Justice Samuel Alito pointed out, the Administration's brief filed for tomorrow argues the law's penalties function like a tax.

Congress knew they could not pass a massive tax increase, so they tried to masquerade the matter as an individual mandate complete with financial penalties. The Constitution intends for the federal government to be one of limited scope, not unlimited powers."

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Wilson is one of six attorneys general who will attend as members of the multi-state lawsuit's executive committee. The twenty-six (26) state lawsuit is challenging the constitutionality of federal health care legislation signed into law two years ago.