Ga. files amicus brief in healthcare lawsuit

ATLANTA — Georgia has joined 20 other states in filing an amicus brief with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit in a lawsuit challenging federal health care reform, Attorney General Sam Olens said.

The brief supports a lawsuit filed by Missouri Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder and four other plaintiffs

“To date, over half the states in our union are legally challenging the constitutionality of federal healthcare reform,” Olens said in a news release. “While Georgia is involved in a separate lawsuit, we will use every opportunity to express our objections to the federal government’s over-reaching and unconstitutional healthcare law.”

The lawsuit was filed in July 2010 with the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri. A district judge subsequently dismissed the lawsuit, and Kinder and the other plaintiffs appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit.

A seperate 26-state lawsuit, in which Georgia is a party, is pending before the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals.