Once again, you have both misunderstood the rationale for Virginia suing separately from other states in the health-care matter ("Joining the ObamaCare Suit," Review & Outlook, Nov, 18). At the time the states brought their lawsuits against the federal government's unconstitutional health-care bill on March 23, I believe only Virginia had its own statute protecting us against being forced to purchase health insurance against their will—the Virginia Health Care Freedom Act. (VHCFA).
Like our sister states, in Virginia's lawsuit, we are protecting the federal Constitution against the federal government; however, unlike our sister states, at the time of filing, Virginia was also fighting to vindicate a properly passed Virginia law. Since federal courts in Virginia address Virginia statutes regularly, it would make little sense in our case to go to Florida to defend a Virginia statute.
As 2010 has progressed, there are now numerous states with statutes like Virginia's VHCFA, including at least one of the new potential filing states, Oklahoma, which will be led by attorney-general-elect Scott Pruitt.
An additional error is your presumption that the most effective legal strategy is for all the states to pile into one case. Such an approach is contrary to traditional litigation strategy, in which the Supreme Court is approached from as many different appellate circuits as possible on the same issue. Such a strategy is designed to reveal any circuit splits on critical issues, because the Supreme Court often takes cases to resolve such circuit splits.
Ken Cuccinelli
Attorney General of Virginia
Richmond, Va.
Keith Burgess-Jackson, J.D., Ph.D. 