Health Care ruling boosts California lawsuit

San Diego, CA – A federal judge in Virginia gave green light to a lawsuit by state attorneys general against the massive health care legislation. The ruling is expected to boost a similar lawsuit in San Diego, CA. Pacific Justice Institute is a plaintiff in the San Diego case.

In its ruling, the Virginia federal court determined that the state lawsuit regarding the federal health care takeover has raised important questions which must be fully litigated. In so doing, the court denied a motion by the federal government to dismiss the case.

The court stated, “While this case raises a host of complex constitutional issues, all appears to distill the same issue whether or not Congress can regulate- and tax –a citizen’s decision to not participate in interstate commerce. Neither the Supreme Court of the US nor any appellate circuit court has squarely addressed that issue. No case has been reported of any federal appellate court that has extended the Commerce Clause nor the Tax Clause to include regulation of any person’s decision to not purchase a product, notwithstanding its effect on interstate commerce.”

Attorney Pete Lepiscopo who represents the defendants PJI and former assemblyman Steve Baldwin in the San Diego healthcare lawsuit, filed a brief yesterday in federal court, calling attention to the Virginia ruling. A motion for preliminary injunction by the plaintiffs and a motion to dismiss by the government defendants are pending in the San Diego case. Lepiscopo commented, “We are pleased that the Virginia federal court recognizes the importance of the state’s rights issues raised by the federal health care takeover, and we expect vindication of related rights of inpiduals and groups affected by that law.”