Wednesday, July 21, 2010

The four other lawsuits

Our focus here has been--and will generally continue to be--the two lawsuits filed by state attorneys general, Virginia v. Sebelius (filed by Virginia alone) and Florida v. HHS (filed by Florida and joined by 19 other states). These are, in some sense, the "leading" lawsuits challenging the constitutionality of the ACA, and they more directly raise the constitutional questions concerning federalism. But it is important to note that there are (at least) four other lawsuits that have been filed contending that the Act is unconstitutional. They are:

* Thomas More Law Center v. Obama, 2:10-CV-1156 (E.D. Mich.)

* Liberty University v. Geithner, 6:10-CV-00015 (W.D. Va.)

* Association of Am. Physicians & Surgeons v. Sebelius, 1:10-CV-00499 (D.D.C.)

* Kinder v. Geithner, 1:10-CV-00101 (E.D. Mo.)

With the exception of the last one listed, these are all actions filed by private parties. The Kinder case was filed by the Lieutenant Governor of Missouri (Peter Kinder), and thus arguably implicates the interests of state governments. But it is unclear whether, under Missouri law, the Lieutenant Governor has litigating authority in a matter like this. The state attorney general has moved to intervene.

We will post the official filings in these cases on the wiki site (see the green tab above) as soon as we can track them all down.