GOP candidate leads OCA with tenth amendment as weapon
Monday, August 2, 2010 at 9:52AM 
Van Irion is spearheading a class action lawsuit against Obamacare. Irion is a candidate in the race to represent Tennessee Dist. 3 in the US House. (Dandridge, Tenn.)—Van Irion, a Republican candidate running for a US House seat in Tennessee District 3, is leading a federal class action lawsuit, the Obamacare Class Action suit, against government healthcare.
A statement on Irion’s website disclosed, “The Obamacare Class Action (OCA) is a Federal lawsuit challenging the Constitutionality of the entire Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) on the basis that Congress does not have the authority under Article 1, Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution to regulate the health care industry and is specifically barred from doing so by the 10th Amendment.”
This approach is in contrast to the position taken by a number of states filing lawsuits over Obamacare—that the mandate for individuals to buy health insurance or be penalized, is unconstitutional. Democrats in Congress hastily claimed the mandate isn’t a mandate—it’s a tax penalty.
The legislation the Democrat Party passed calls for thousands of new IRS employees to make sure those who don’t pay for insurance pay at tax time. Those positions are colloquially referred to as “health cops.”
Incidentally, calling the mandate penalty a tax negates Obama’s campaign promise that no taxes would be levied on the middle class.
Irion’s position bases the lawsuit on the commerce clause in the US Constitution. An explanation on his website notes OCA provides, “an opportunity to revisit the Commerce Clause precedent that has given Congress free reign to regulate all aspects of American life.”
The GOP candidate looks to the Tenth Amendment to build his case: “The Constitution clearly intended Congress’ authority to be limited to specific subject matter. The 10th Amendment of the Constitution emphasized this point. The OCA lawsuit seeks to re-establish the original meaning of the enumerated powers and of the 10th Amendment by re-establishing that the Commerce Clause was intended to allow Congress only the authority to prevent one state from creating trade barriers to doing business with another state.”
Many Democrats, including President Barack Obama, view the Constitution as a “living document” that permits flexibility in expanding the role of central government. There is, however, no real basis for this approach. It stems from a statist interpretation of a document formed in very clear language that limits the role of the federal government and clearly acknowledges the power of the states.
One response to statist interpretation of the Constitution is the Tenth Amendment Center, a group that has joined others in sponsoring Nullify Now, a conference aimed at exploring the option of nullification as a solution for unconstitutional federal laws. Those laws often cost states dearly in terms of their budgets.
Irion’s bio is impressive: “[He is] a Constitutional attorney, admitted to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court. He’s also a Patent attorney, adjunct Law Professor at the University of Tennessee, former medical researcher, published scientist.”
Appearing on Fox News on Sunday, Irion noted with good humor that someone has, more than once, signed up the White House email address to receive updates. He also said the US Dept. of Justice has visited his website.
Irion’s website offers a quick, easy way for Americans to join the OCA.
Irion said, “More than 25,000 individual Americans and businesses have signed up to join as plaintiffs in the OCA. They include physicians’ groups, tanning businesses, restaurant chains, law firms, and insurance providers. The OCA has provided them a voice and a clear path of action to overturn Obamacare.”
(By Kay B. Day/Aug. 2, 2010)