david-longFor Immediate Release: Feb. 11, 2013

On Jan. 7, Indiana Sen. Phil Boots introduced SB0230. The proposed legislation finds “the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and the federal Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 are inconsistent with the power granted to the federal government in the Constitution of the United States,” and would make enforcement of Obamacare in Indiana a felony.

It appears Indiana State Senator David Long remains resolute and will allow a bill that would stop the implementation of the unpopular Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act in Indiana to die of neglect, despite strong support for the bill in both legislative chambers and a public outcry in favor of the legislation.

During the Montgomery County Lincoln Day Dinner Friday night, Boots reportedly told a constituent Long will not budge and there is no way he’ll allow SB230 to have a hearing.

Long insists the bill is unreasonable and unconstitutional.

“Let me get this straight,” Tenth Amendment Center executive director Michael Boldin said. “He doesn’t think the people, or their representatives, have the ability to determine if something is constitutional, but he alone has the ability to unilaterally make that determination and keep the issue from even coming up for debate. Nice. I wonder what he will do if the feds come after guns? I suppose he will make sure the state of Indiana doesn’t stand in in their way. The feds are supreme in all things,after all. David Long, like the Obama administration he’s protecting, is dangerous.”

Long and like-minded “legal experts” insist the Indiana legislature cannot nullify the PPACA because of the Supremacy Clause in the Constitution. Boldin says they ignore the key phrase in the clause. Only acts “in pursuance of” the Constitution stand up as supreme.

“Long’s version of the supremacy clause reads like most liberals – laws passed in pursuance of the Constitution, and whatever the hell else Congress wants to pass, are supreme,” Boldin said. “He should move out here to California where his statements on the Constitution would be right at home with all the other big government types.”

Long insists the fact that the Supreme Court ruled the insurance mandate in the PPACA constitutional makes it the law of the land and that it cannot be challenged by the state. John Hill, a constitutional law professor at the Robert H. McKinney School of Law at Indiana University in Indianapolis backs Long up, calling the idea that the Supreme Court isn’t the final arbiter “bizarre.”

“Yeah, Long and his cronies take the same position on the Supreme Court as Harry Reid. ‘I’m not here to give everyone my limited knowledge of constitutional law. I am here to say that the law has been upheld,’” Boldin said, quoting the Senate majority leader.

He went on to point out that mandate or not, no enumerated power exists for the federal government to run a national health care system.

“Thomas Jefferson said when the federal government oversteps its constitutionally delegated powers, nullification is the rightful remedy. He and James Madison both insisted that the Supreme Court does not make the final determination on the extent of federal power. Long is basically saying that the federal government gets the final say – well – because the federal government says it gets the final say. There’s some lawyer talk for you!” Boldin said. “So, if it’s going to come down to a debate between Long and some dude who teaches a few law classes in Indianapolis, against James Madison and Thomas Jefferson, I think I’m just going to go with the ‘Father of the Constitution’ and the author of the Declaration of Independence.”

Contact: Mike Maharrey
Communications director
O: 213.935.0553
media@tenthamendmentcenter.com
www.tenthamendmentcenter.com

###

The Tenth Amendment Center exists to promote and advance a return to a proper balance of power between federal and State governments envisioned by our founders, prescribed by the Constitution and explicitly declared in the Tenth Amendment. A national think tank based in Los Angeles, the Tenth Amendment Center works to preserve and protect the principle of strictly limited government through information, education, and activism.

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