News Home

Charlotte Observer

Lawmakers urge attorney general to fight constitutionality of law passed Sunday.

By Jim Morrill

North Carolina's leading Republican lawmakers Wednesday urged the state's Democratic attorney general to join 14 other states in fighting the new health care law in court.

The state's five Republican members of Congress asked Attorney General Roy Cooper to join states fighting the constitutionality of the law passed Sunday.

In a letter signed by Reps. Sue Myrick, Patrick McHenry, Howard Coble, Walter Jones Jr. and Virginia Foxx, the members said the new law "will kill jobs."

"It hurts small businesses, hurts families and will drive up the cost of health care in this country," they wrote. "It is an imposition on North Carolinians' freedom and will do real harm to the people of our state."

N.C. Senate Minority Leader Phil Berger of Rockingham sent Cooper a similar letter.

Justice Department spokeswoman Noelle Talley said department attorneys "will carefully review the legal and constitutional merits of the action."

In South Carolina, meanwhile, critics of the new law plan to hold a "Healthcare Nullification Rally" Friday morning at the Capitol.

"Here in South Carolina we believe that the U.S. Constitution is still the supreme law of the land," organizers Jonathon Hill and Randy Simpson said in a statement. "We're determined not to allow our Ninth and Tenth Amendment rights to be trampled by the government."

Hill and Simpson are leaders of the Anderson and Seneca Tea Parties.