My Letter to Attorney General King

Feel free to borrow and send your own.

March 25, 2010

NM Attorney General Gary King
PO Drawer 1508
Santa Fe, NM 87504-1508
FAX: (505) 827-5826

Dear Mr. King:

On behalf of the many citizens of New Mexico who have deep concerns about and will be negatively impacted by the health care legislation, HR 3590, I write to urge you to join the efforts by other state attorneys’ general to challenge the Constitutionality of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which was recently passed by Congress.

The legislation passed by congress requires individuals to purchase health insurance or pay a fine. Such a sweeping federal mandate has never before been enacted. In fact, when such a mandate was previously considered, a 1994 report from the Congressional Budget Office said, “A mandate requiring all individuals to purchase health insurance would be an unprecedented form of federal action. The government has never required people to buy any good or service as a condition of lawful residence in the United States.”

It appears that congress may be overstepping its bounds by forcing individuals or businesses to buy insurance. I respectfully request that you review the legal issues being raised by these unprecedented federal interventions which I believe violate the following Constitutional provisions.

4th and 5th Amendments violation: The mandated IRS monthly audits to determine if citizens have complied with purchasing satisfactory insurance is unreasonable search of a citizen’s financial accounts and threatens self-incrimination.

10th Amendment violation: “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.” The “Commerce Clause” of Article I, Section 8 does not refer to mandated health insurance.

13th Amendment violation: “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude…shall exist within the United States…” Punishment by fines and imprisonment for failure to purchase mandated health insurance is definitely involuntary servitude.

As you may be aware, attorneys general in at least 12 states have indicated they plan to file lawsuits to block implementation of the federal health care reform legislation on constitutional grounds. I hope you will join this effort.
Sincerely,