Mississippi Litigation Review & Commentary : Mississippi Personal Injury Lawyer & Attorney : Phillip W. Thomas Law Firm : MS Litigation Review & Commentary

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In April Lt. Governor Phil Bryant filed a lawsuit in the U.S. Dist. Court for Southern District of Mississippi challenging the legality of Congress' health-care reform bill passed at the urging of President Obama.

In August the government filed a motion to dismiss. The government's supporting brief tipped the scales at 46 pages. Here is the brief.

Not to be out done, Bryant's attorney, State Senator Chris McDaniel, filed a response with a supporting brief that is 78 pages. Here is the plaintiff's response brief.

I may have to wait for the cliff notes.

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Governor Haley Barbour plans to sue to bolster his presidential aspirations challenge the constitutionality of the new health-care reform. He’s going to have to take a number and get in line.

As reported by the Clarion-Ledger, State Senator and attorney Chris McDaniel (R) and Hattiesburg attorney Doug Lee beat Barbour to the punch on Friday by filing this Class Action Complaint in federal court in Hattiesburg seeking to have the bill declared unconstitutional. Plaintiff Richard Conrad and McDaniel explained the action to the C-L:

"To be an American citizen and be forced to do anything is kind of contrary to our nature," Conrad said. "If I understand the constitution correctly, we've never been made to purchase or buy a product or service from a private entity."

The plaintiffs say they oppose a mandate, effective in 2014, that would require citizens to purchase health-care insurance or pay a fine.

"Basically, the petitioners are seeking a declaration that the Health Care Act's individual mandate requiring them to purchase health insurance from an insurance company is a violation of congressional authority under the Commerce Clause of the United States Constitution," McDaniel said.

McDaniel said the Commerce Clause gives Congress the authority to regulate commerce but does not give it unlimited power.

I don’t know about you Gregg, but I’m not going to sit here while they bad-mouth the United States of America. Gentlemen.

McDaniel’s Complaint is a hefty twenty-eight pages in length and cites a lot of cases. It’s kind of dry, so you might want to start it with a full cup of coffee. Drafting a twenty-eight page complaint is not easy, so someone put some work into it or one similar.

I am not really getting why Mississippi needs to file a lawsuit over the bill. Fourteen states already filed a lawsuit and McDaniel and Lee are taking a shot at the bill for Mississippians. I’m not sure what there is to be gained from a Barbour led action, other than political capital and attorney’s fees for the outside counsel lucky enough to get hired by Barbour. 

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To be honest, I did not closely follow the debate over health care reform. It seemed to me like most articles and broadcast media stories focused on all the name calling by politicians and their supporters rather than the content of the legislation. But now that its passed and newspapers have been printing the actual new provisions, it looks pretty good to me.

But I hate the current state of politics in the United States. It’s so divisive and there is so little respect shown between Democrats and Republicans. Our nation’s leaders should be setting a good example of how our government works, not screaming “liar” and “baby killer” from the floor of the House of Representatives. 

And it seems that the current slate of partisan “news” shows are part of the problem. When the Rush Limbaughs, Glenn Becks and Keith Olbermanns (to a lesser extent) of the media get so worked up at people who disagree with their view, it sends the message to Americans that they should also attack people who disagree with their view.

Reasonable people can disagree about health care and other political issues. The fact that someone disagrees with me does not mean that they are a socialist, fascist, idiot, etc…. But that seems to be how many Americans think. And they are being led there by the politicians and the news media that covers them.

The whole scene makes me want to tune out of political debates altogether. I suspect that many other people feel the same way.

As soon as the health care reform passed, Governor Barbour and politicians in many other states announced plans to sue the federal government to try to have the new law held unconstitutional. At least least they didn’t announce plans to secede from the Union.

Will Bardwell and Tom Freeland have commented on the prospects of these lawsuits. I don’t understand how Congress can enact social security, Medicare and a national income tax, but not health care legislation. But I don’t have a problem with the filing of lawsuits. Sure they appear designed to ingratiate certain politicians with potential voters, as opposed to legitimate legal disputes. And why aren’t the same politicians suing to do away with social security and Medicare? I mean, can we really afford them? Of course, it would be political suicide to challenge them.  

The judicial system is in place to resolve disputes and if anyone wants to challenge a law, that is the place to do it. So good luck with the lawsuits. The suits will probably lose and the American people could turn on those who file them if they decide that they actually like green eggs and ham, but I’m sure that they have thought about that. 

But in the meantime, as Rodney King said: “can’t we all just get along?”