Commentary: Defending Floridians against unlawful mandate

Minutes after President Obama signed the federal health care act into law, I filed the first lawsuit challenging the act's unprecedented individual mandate and its violation of states' sovereignty. On Friday, Florida and 19 other states, along with the National Federation of Independent Business, defended our lawsuit in federal court by submitting a brief that argues the federal health care act, a.k.a. ObamaCare, exceeds Congress' powers under the U.S. Constitution.

The Obama administration argues that, because Congress can regulate insurance, the individual mandate is the necessary and proper way to achieve a workable health care insurance scheme. Yet regardless of the universal coverage policy goals behind ObamaCare, the federal government has no constitutional power to force a person to purchase a health insurance policy. The federal health care act does not only regulate people when they use health care services but compels every American to purchase health insurance and penalizes those who don't.

The individual mandate goes to new extremes by forcing people to buy health insurance when a person has taken no action at all. The federal government should not have the authority to dictate how people spend their money. It should not coerce people into buying something just because it serves a policy goal. If the federal government can compel citizens to purchase health insurance or pay a penalty, the government could likewise force us to buy a General Motors car or put our money in a government-owned bank and be penalized for not complying.

Furthermore, the federal health care act commandeers state resources and manipulates state budgets to facilitate a massive expansion of the Medicaid entitlement program.

Through this act, the federal government is forcing the states to take on a financial burden they do not want and cannot afford.

ObamaCare traps states in a fake choice: Either accept the vastly expanded Medicaid program with its hefty price tag or opt out of the Medicaid program losing the state's share of federal funding.

This dilemma is unconstitutional because it forces states to give up their free choice and sovereignty. States must relinquish their ability to make basic decisions for the health and welfare of their citizens - or face financial disaster.

When the Founding Fathers developed a system of limited government within the U.S. Constitution, they intended for states to have the ability to protect their rights against an overreaching federal government.

The states' lawsuit defends the rule of law and the liberty of our citizens.