Florida Lawsuit

Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum, along with attorneys general and governors in 19 other states, filed a lawsuit May 14, 2010, against the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of the Treasury and the Department of Labor. (The lawsuit now includes a total of 26 states.) The lawsuit argues that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act's "mandate that all citizens and legal residents of the United States maintain qualifying healthcare coverage or pay a penalty (individual mandate) is an unprecedented encroachment on the sovereignty of the Plaintiff States and on the rights of citizens." The plaintiffs claim that the mandate exceeds the powers granted under the Commerce Clause of the Constitution and violates the Ninth and Tenth Amendments, which establish the principles of federalism and dual sovereignty, and the Fifth Amendment's due process.

Arkansas is not among the lawsuit's plaintiffs. The 19 states that have signed on to Florida's lawsuit are South Carolina, Nebraska, Texas, Utah, Louisiana, Alabama, Michigan, Colorado, Pennsylvania, Washington, Idaho, South Dakota, Indiana, North Dakota, Mississippi, Arizona, Nevada, Georgia, and Alaska.

​On Jan. 31, 2011, District Judge Roger Vinson issued an order, ruling that PPACA is unconstitutional. The U.S. Court of Appeals heard arguments in the case on June 8, 2011.