From Forbes

The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals today rejected two different attacks on the Obama healthcare reform act, delivering a double blow to opponents who hope to use the courts to nullify the law as unconstitutional. The decisions also set up a double conflict among courts that only the U.S. Supreme Court can unravel: Whether the healthcare act is constitutional, and whether states have a right to sue over it in the first place. Courts in Florida and Georgia have upheld state-led challenges to Obamacare, while the Fourth Circuit threw out Virginia’s case against the law.

“The Virginia decision is not helpful” to other state suits, said said Gregory Katsas. a partner at Jones Day who represented the National Federation of Independent Business in the recent 11th Circuit victory for Obamacare foes. But ultimately, he added, “these decisions just underscore the need for the Supreme Court to settle this matter,”

In the most significant decision (thanks, Avik Roy, for uploading to Forbes), a majority on the formerly conservative appeals court in Richmond, Va. threw out a lower-court ruling that found the act’s individual mandate unconstitutional. Virginia simply doesn’t have the right to sue the federal government on behalf of its citizens, the court ruled, since “a state possesses no legitimate interest in protecting its citizens from the government of the United States.”

In the second, the court threw out a challenge by a conservative group as an improper attempt to block a tax from being collected. In so doing, the court rejected the Obama administration’s contentions that the “penalty” associated with failing to buy insurance is not a tax. The court effectively said whatever Congress called it, it’s a tax: Only if there is “something talismanic about the label `penalty,’” the majority held, does the fine collected by the Treasury fail to fall under the broad Anti-Injunction Act prohibiting citizens from using the courts to block a tax.

The decisions weren’t unexpected. Both were penned by Judge Diana Gribbon Motz, a Clinton appointee, and the other two judges randomly assigned to the cases were also Democratic appointees. The decisions are powerful in their simplicity, and might offer the U.S. Supreme Court a convenient way out of the intensely political question of whether to uphold the divisive law. Rather than deciding whether the law exceeds the power of Congress to regulate interstate commerce, the high court could simply rule that neither states nor individual citizens have the right to sue to have it overturned.

The Virginia case is potentially more devastating to Obamacare opponents, since they pinned their hopes on using Republican-leaning states to overturn the law. The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta endorsed this approach last month, striking down the individual mandate as unconstitutional overreaching by Congress. Judges in Florida and Virginia also have ruled in favor of the states.

But in today’s decision, the Virginia appeals court said there was no basis for the suit because the law “imposes no obligations” on the state. A little basic doctrine is necessary here: Federal courts are courts of limited jurisdiction. There must be a “case or controversy” and it must fit within the categories spelled out under the Constitution. Further, decisions over the years have established three tests to determine if a case can be heard. The plaintiff must have suffered an injury, the injury has to be linked to the defendant’s conduct, and the courts must be capable of redressing it somehow.

Virginia’s suit failed the first test, the court ruled, because the main injury the state claimed was Obamacare conflicted with the Virginia Health Care Freedom Act, which prohibited enforcement of the individual mandate. The state claimed it was acting in a parens patriae role to protect its citizens but the Fourt Circuit wasn’t buying that. If anybody is acting in the role of a parent here, the court said, it’s the feds in enacting health care reform. The Virginia law served “merely as a smokescreen” to protect Virginia citizens from the penalties in the healthcare act and that sort of behavior ain’t allowed. So much for the states’ rights argument.

In the second decision the court threw out conservative Liberty University’s challenge to the law on somewhat novel grounds. Neither the government nor the plaintiffs based their cases on Anti-Injunction Act, which sensibly prevents people from using the courts to try and block the government from collecting taxes. The Obama administration refuses to call the penalty in the healthcare act a tax. But no matter; the Fourth Circuit decided the Anti-Injunction Act applies anyway and used that to bat Liberty’s case out of court. Allowing lawsuits like this would impede the Treasury’s ability to collect billions of dollars in revenue, the court ruled. If Congress is persuaded by the administration’s view that the insurance penalty is not a tax, then it can add a clause to the law specifically exempting it from the Anti-Injunction Act.

The effect of the ruling was to throw Liberty out of court as a plaintiff, since it was trying to achieve an impermissible end through the litigation. Justice Andre Davis, an Obama nominee, thought that went too far. He argued the court had jurisdiction over the case. But that doesn’t mean they’d do well there. Davis said he would have rejected arguments Obamacare exceeds Congress’ power to regulate interstate commerce.

U.S. Senator Jim DeMint (R-South Carolina) introduced legislation to fully repeal the Democrats’ government health care takeover that President Obama signed into law March 23, 2010.

Thirty-four Republicans have already cosponsored this bill.

“Republicans are standing with the American people who are demanding we repeal this government takeover of health care,” said Senator DeMint. “Repealing ObamaCare is vital to the future of our nation and the health of our people. ObamaCare will raise health costs, reduce choices, ration care, hike taxes, cut jobs, increase the national debt, and put bureaucrats between patients and their doctors. It’s time to start over and implement commonsense solutions that allow Americans to choose affordable plans across state lines, end frivolous lawsuits that drive up costs, and gives equitable tax treatment to those who don’t get insurance from their employer.”

Cosponsors of the repeal bill include Senators:
Kelly Ayotte (R-New Hampshire),
John Barrasso (R-Wyoming),
Roy Blunt (R-Missouri),
John Boozman (R-Arkansas),
Richard Burr (R-North Carolina),
Saxby Chambliss (R-Georgia),
Dan Coats (R-Indiana),
Tom Coburn (R-Oklahoma),
Bob Corker (R-Tennessee),
John Cornyn (R-Texas),
Mike Crapo (R-Idaho),
John Ensign (R-Nevada),
Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina),
Orrin Hatch (R-Utah),
Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas),
James Inhofe (R-Oklahoma),
Johnny Isakson (R-Georgia),
Mike Johanns (R-Nebraska),
Ron Johnson (R-Wisconsin),
Jon Kyl (R-Arizona),
Mike Lee (R-Utah),
John McCain (R-Arizona),
Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky),
Jerry Moran (R-Kansas),
Rand Paul (R-Kentucky),
Rob Portman (R-Ohio),
James Risch (R-Idaho),
Pat Roberts (R-Kansas),
Marco Rubio (R-Florida),
Richard Shelby (R-Alabama),
John Thune (R-South Dakota),
Pat Toomey (R-Pennsylvania),
David Vitter (R-Louisiana), and
Roger Wicker (R-Mississippi).

“Economists have described ObamaCare as ‘fiscally dangerous,’ warning it will create barriers to job growth and increase costs at a time of great economic uncertainty,” said Senator DeMint. “American families and businesses are struggling and it’s our duty to respond quickly to their calls to repeal this bill and push for solutions that will make health care more affordable.”

• Leading Economists project that ObamaCare will add roughly $500 billion in new health care taxes, passing those costs to patients and will raise the federal budget deficit by more than $500 billion over the next 10 years and by nearly $1.5 trillion in the following decade.
• According to the Congressional Budget Office, ObamaCare will increase health care costs to families by $2,100 per year.
• The Heritage Foundation estimates that the economy will lose 670,000 jobs under the new law, many of them in the health care industry.
• An American Action Forum study finds that employers will be forced to drop employer-sponsored health care coverage for as many as 35 million Americans.
• An analysis from HSA Consulting Services concludes the new law restricts the use of Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) and reduces the amount of money that can be contributed to Flexible Savings Accounts (FSAs).
• As of Dec. 3, 2010, 222 waivers from ObamaCare’s annual limit requirements had been granted to businesses, labor unions, and insurers, affecting 1.5 million enrollees.
• On Dec. 13, 2010, a U.S. district court ruled that it is unconstitutional for the government to impose an individual mandate to buy health insurance.

“Despite being marketed as a health care reform bill, the legislation that was signed into law expands the size and scope of the federal government while failing to deliver on the promise to lower health care costs,” said Burr. “Hard-working Americans who are already struggling in this difficult economy are bearing the brunt of new taxes, fees, and penalties because of this law.  With each day that goes by, it becomes clearer that we must repeal this bill and replace it with meaningful health reform that will actually reduce the cost of health care.”- Senator Burr

“I applaud the president’s call for fiscal responsibility, and I could not agree more.  However, these are mere words until we make the difficult choices necessary to begin paying off our enormous national debt.   Calling it an investment does not change the fact it is nothing more than new spending that our nation cannot afford.  The American people sent a clear message last November that they want spending to be cut, not frozen at the current, inflated levels like the president suggested tonight. We must stop the out-of-control spending in Washington or our economy will be no better off, and future generations will suffer the consequences.” — Senator Burr in response to President Obama’s State of the Union speech this week

Visit Senator DeMint’s website; Senator Burr’s website

Healthcare Lecture Series: Larry Dixon from WFU Schools of Business on Vimeo.

Here is some inside information on the Health Care bill from a couple of Health Care insiders. This is not a political discussion, there is no partisanship or discussion whether you are for or against the Health Care bill. In other words this is information you WILL NOT hear from the main stream media (yes even Fox News). It is about 39 minutes in length but it is worth it.

Is this the beginning of the people starting to take our country back?

If you are against the ObamaCare Bill that was forced down our throats you can join the lawsuit that was filed against the government. For more details click here to go to the ObamaCare Class Action lawsuit website.

Please leave a comment below if and when you signed up, the Tea Party would like to let our representatives know how many people signed up.

The purpose of this lawsuit is to reverse Supreme Court precedent related to the Commerce clause and thereby overturn Obamacare. The Supreme Court has historically erred in its interpretation of the Constitutional role of the Federal Government. Recent Supreme Court rulings hint that they may be willing to take another look at Commerce clause precedent. Obamacare is so over reaching and so onerous, that it must either be repealed in Congress or struck down in the courts. We must fight this on both fronts. This is our historic opportunity to reverse America’s trend toward Socialism by overturning this unconstitutional precedent.

If you are a US citizen and agree with the goal of this lawsuit, please join us. If you have concerns about joining, please review the FAQs for more information. Every person we add strengthens the voice of “We the People”.

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By Marc Seelinger
Marc is a student at the UNC-Chapel Hill studying economics and Chinese. When not at school, he lives in Raleigh with his family. At UNC, he’s the Executive Vice-Chair of the UNC College Republicans, and writes for the Carolina Review, UNC’s only conservative student publication. This summer, Marc has been working with Young America’s Foundation as an intern at the Reagan Ranch Center in Santa Barbara, CA.