Virginia Attorney General Challenges Obamacare's Constitutionality

By AJ Swartwood

Kenneth Cuccinelli, the Attorney General for the Commonwealth of Virginia, argued before a D.C. audience Thursday that the recently passed healthcare reform law is an unconstitutional use of federal power.

Speaking before the Washington Legal Foundation, Cuccinelli, who is leading Virginia’s court opposition to the law, vehemently protested that the legislation has no constitutional grounds by which it may require American citizens to purchase a product.

“Our case… is simply that the government’s attempt to force individuals to  buy  private products, in this case health insurance, is unconstitutional,” the Attorney General said. “The government has never before ordered Americans, under the guise of regulating commerce, to get into commerce, that they must go undertake an act.”

“This case is not about health insurance its about liberty,” added Cuccinelli.

Cuccinelli argued that the system of federalism will cease to exist if Obamacare is upheld.

“If this individual mandate and the accompaning penalty are Constitutional and allowable,  they are no principled limits to what the government can order you to go buy.”

Virginia is one of twenty states that have challenged the constitutionality of health care reform.