(COLUMBUS, Ohio)—Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine and colleagues from twenty-five states today filed a petition for a writ of certiorari asking the U.S. Supreme Court to take up the constitutional issues surrounding the Obama heath care reform act. States in the case of State of Florida et al., v. United States Department of Health and Human Services, et. al are challenging the health care law and its unprecedented claim of federal power to require individuals to go into the marketplace and buy federally-approved health care coverage or face penalties.
The following statement can be attributed, all or in part, to Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine:
"I have consistently said that I believe that the individual mandate requiring all Americans to purchase health insurance is unconstitutional. That is why on my first day as Attorney General, I authorized Ohio to join twenty-five other states in challenging the constitutionality of this law.
"Frankly, it's time for a decision by the U. S. Supreme Court on this issue, and I would hope that the Obama Administration will agree with us on this point.
"The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit has agreed with our position that the federal government exceeded its constitutional authority in imposing this unprecedented mandate upon virtually every American, In our view, that unconstitutional mandate is so intertwined with the rest of the act that the law should be set aside in its entirety.
"Distinguished federal jurists at both the trial and appellate levels have considered the constitutionality of this act, and they are divided. But individual citizens who have to plan for their families' futures, businesses that might be considering adding new jobs, and state governments across the country that are looking at enormous new burdens need to know what the rules are. Clearly, the questions of the act's unconstitutionality should go before the Supreme Court, and the sooner the better.
"I hope that our petition will help speed up the process by which the Supreme Court can consider these vital issues. Our case is strong, and I hope that the high court will invalidate the law."
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