(text from the daily digest provided by Herndon Alliance)

by Jennifer Haberkorn

Nearly 500 hundred liberal state legislators plan to file a brief with the Supreme Court on Thursday in support of the healthcare law’s individual mandate. But in case you can’t wait to hear what they have to say about it, they’re already out with the release and the summary today. The Working Group of State Legislators for Health Reform and the Constitutional Accountability Center argue that Congress has the constitutional authority to solve national problems through national solutions. “The general purpose of the Affordable Care Act falls within Congress’s constitutionally granted powers, and the minimum coverage provision, which is part of the means of effecting reform of the national health care industry, does not infringe upon any constitutionally guaranteed rights,” the groups wrote in a summary released Wednesday. “There is no constitutional right to freeload that is infringed by the individual responsibility aspect of the minimum coverage provision.” Dozens of groups plan to weigh in on the Supreme Court’s deliberations on the health lawsuit through amicus briefs. Oral arguments in the case are slated for late March. “This is a massive show of support for this law from state legislators across the country,” said Washington state Sen. Karen Keiser, chairwoman of the Working Group of State Legislators for Health Reform.