Despite a Federal Judge’s decision Monday to allow a lawsuit filed by Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli challenging the national health care reform law to proceed, Walter Dellinger, Chair of the Appellate Practice at the firm O’Melveny & Meyers in Washington, D.C. and an acting Solicitor General in the Clinton administration, predicts the effort to block the legislation will fail.
“It is fairly routine that thousands of cases go forward every week in the courts of this country that survive a motion to dismiss on the face of the pleadings where ultimately the plaintiffs lose, and I think that will be the case here,” Dellinger said during a conference call hosted by the Center for American Progress.
Dellinger also noted that filing a lawsuit that challenges decisions made by elected representatives is “a very dramatic expansion of judicial authority” and that such a notion would likely bother conservative judges.
“This is the kind of challenge that was brought against the Social Security law by the people who lost in the legislative process,” added Dellinger. “This kind of litigation was brought against the Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights Act. These challenges have always failed because in the end, courts realize that these important decisions are to be made by the elected representatives of the people.”
Lawyer Predicts Virginia's Health Care Reform Challenge Will Fail
Philip Bunnell - Talk Radio News Service
Despite a Federal Judge’s decision Monday to allow a lawsuit filed by Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli challenging the national health care reform law to proceed, Walter Dellinger, Chair of the Appellate Practice at the firm O’Melveny & Meyers in Washington, D.C. and an acting Solicitor General in the Clinton administration, predicts the effort to block the legislation will fail.
“It is fairly routine that thousands of cases go forward every week in the courts of this country that survive a motion to dismiss on the face of the pleadings where ultimately the plaintiffs lose, and I think that will be the case here,” Dellinger said during a conference call hosted by the Center for American Progress.
Dellinger also noted that filing a lawsuit that challenges decisions made by elected representatives is “a very dramatic expansion of judicial authority” and that such a notion would likely bother conservative judges.
“This is the kind of challenge that was brought against the Social Security law by the people who lost in the legislative process,” added Dellinger. “This kind of litigation was brought against the Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights Act. These challenges have always failed because in the end, courts realize that these important decisions are to be made by the elected representatives of the people.”