PIERRE, S.D.- Attorney General Marty Jackley announces the States have made additional filings for the Summary Judgment Proceedings in the health care lawsuit. The filing first addresses whether the individual mandate requires all citizens to purchase healthcare insurance or face a penalty.

 

“To sustain the Act, [the federal government] asks the Court to rewrite the Constitution and fundamentally alter the relationships between the federal government and the States and between the federal government and the American people,” wrote the States in their motion. “Never before has Congress purported to use its power over interstate commerce to compel activity, rather than to regulate existing economic activity.”

 

The motion further discusses whether the burdens imposed on the States constitute a commandeering of state resources and dismisses the Department of Justice’s suggestion that States could withdraw from the voluntary Medicaid program if the burden became too great.

 

“The [Act] further violates the Constitution by coercing the States’ participation in its new Medicaid regime and by commandeering their resources to achieve the federal government’s ends,” wrote the States in their motion. “The federal government asks the Court to believe that Medicaid remains purely voluntary, and that any State may simply withdraw to avoid the new costs and burdens. However, there is no mechanism under law for such a withdrawal – much less for an orderly transition that would not jeopardize the health and lives of the millions of poor and needy who depend on the States’ Medicaid programs… [The Act] architecture inherently depends on the States remaining in Medicaid.”

 

A copy of the States’ filing, will be available on our website at atg.sd.gov.