Health Care

Appellate Court Questions Plaintiffs' Standing To Challenge Health Care Law

Brian Beutler | May 17, 2011, 10:33AM

President Barack Obama

A three-judge panel on the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals hearing one of the pending challenges to the health care reform law has sent lawyers for both sides a somewhat unusual letter, suggesting the court may be focused on whether plaintiffs have standing to bring suit in the first place. The court also appears to be focused on whether, assuming plaintiffs do have standing, their claims are ripe for adjudication.

The one-page memo asks counsel to submit 10-page briefs answering a few questions. Most significantly, they question whether the plaintiffs have alleged an "injury" or "imminent injury," given the fact that the health care law's individual mandate will not be in effect for another two and a half years. Additionally, the judges want to know how broadly the plaintiffs are challenging Congress' power to require people to buy health insurance under the Constitution's Commerce Clause.

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CO-GOV

Tancredo's New Home In The Constitution Party: A Religious, Paleoconservative Group Without Much Electoral Success

Eric Kleefeld | July 26, 2010, 4:23PM

Tom Tancredo

So what exactly is the Constitution Party, the group that former Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-CO) is now joining in order to run for governor of Colorado?

The Constitution Party is a religiously conservative, right-wing party founded in 1992 -- and a group that has not yet had success in Colorado politics, though they hope that Tancredo might provide a breakthrough. If Tancredo wants to use this third-party platform to beat the Republican nominee -- either Scott McInnis or Dan Maes -- and likely Democratic nominee Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper, Tancredo will have to buck history. In the 2008 election in Colorado, the party's presidential nominee Chuck Baldwin received 6,233 votes, 0.257% of the votes in the state.

Overall, the Constitution Party's positions could be described as religious conservative and paleoconservative. They also strongly reject neoconservatism and American internationalism as threats to the country's independence and sovereignty. For example, in 2008 they nominated Chuck Baldwin, defeating Alan Keyes' attempt to win its nomination, with the Iraq War as a key issue. Keyes is a strong supporter of the Iraq War, while Baldwin described it as "the illegal, immoral, unconstitutional war that has resulted in the slaughter of four thousand American soldiers and untold innocent Iraqis." And at their convention, Baldwin won by a landslide.

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