Virginia Attorney General, Ken “The Cooch” Cuccinelli, subject of this current thread about his attempt to force Virginia universities to discriminate against homos, is threatening to sue the federal government if the health care bill passes. His specific grounds are not really spelled out, but his letter to Pelosi suggests that he thinks there’s something unconstitutional about reconciliation. As I said in the thread title, what is it with this butthole? He;s like Michelle Bachmann, but he has some actaul power. The state of Virginia is not actually going to go along with this nutbag lawasuit, is it?
This guy is fast becoming a national joke. I think Palin has a challenger for the teabagger throne.
is complete bubkis. Say what you want about what he’s doing (and I don’t like it either), but he most definitely is not attempting to force Virginia universities to discriminate based on sexual orientation.
Also, I’m sure you have reached your opinion on the merits of the potential lawsuit based on a careful analysis of the legal issues. No, wait, the opposite of that.
He sounds like a right arsehole. The federal government is empowered to do things for the general welfare. Whether this can require an individual to buy health insurance strikes me as a far constitutional reach. That the federal government can have voluntary programs to allow people to buy health insurance from the federal government is a slam dunk. And the feds can regulate any commerce that goes across state lines. I expect that the US Supreme Court will strike down an individual mandate. Usually legislation has anticipated that other provisions are not effected. I would hope that in the 2400 pages of gibberish that they have such saving provisions.
He hasn’t filed the suit, or spelled out exactly what his grounds are, so it’s kind of hard to analyze them. If he thinks it’s unconstitutional to force people to buy health insurance, he’s wrong.
What is your evidence for this proposition? He just said that state colleges could not include sexual orientation etc. in their discrimination policies. He isn’t encouraging any state college to actually discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation, etc.
Are you kidding? As far as I can tell, the potential lawsuit is “I will sue over the unconstitutional use of reconciliation”. Reconciliation is a rule of the Senate. The lawsuit will not only get laughed out of court, I can guarantee you that any lawyer that files such a complaint will be subject to sanctions pursuant to Rule 11 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, or the state system equivalent, depending on the forum. Guarantee.
Wow, this little essay would cause you to fail any 8th grade civics course. And it’s interesting how you get the limits of federal power wrong in both directions (i.e., one part incorrectly overstates it while another part incorrectly understates it).
Here’s some help:
The federal government is NOT empowered to do things for the general welfare.
The federal government can do more than just regulate commerce that goes across state lines. The interstate commerce clause has been interpreted to allow the federal government to pass any regulation that would affect interstate commerce. In the most famous case on this, the Court held that the federal government could regulation how much wheat a farmer grows for his own consumption because it affects how much wheat goes into interstate commerce.
Exactly. That’s the point. You don’t know what the lawsuit is yet, and you’ve already decided it’s a stupid lawsuit. I guess I really should come to expect such idiocy from you, but for some reason I keep giving you the benefit of the doubt.
To split the difference, Congress only has the power to tax and spend for the general welfare, while the general power to legislate is usually confined by the interstate commerce clause.
Of course, I would love to hear why Rand Rover thinks health insurance isn’t an issue that implicates interstate commerce.
