I am writing today to announce the closure of the New Mexico Independent. After three and a half years of operation in New Mexico, the board of the American Independent News Network, has decided to shift publication of its news…
While environmental activists played their part yesterday during demonstrations at the capitol building, going so far as to dress up as solar panels and to sing the tune of “You Are My Sunshine,” their counterparts, the anti-cap-and-trade contingency who has…
Roughly one quarter of University of New Mexico students are unimpressed with the state’s flagship public school, according to a survey that questioned college students about their higher education experiences.
Attorney General Gary King (Photo by Heath Haussamen)
Republican members of the New Mexico House of Representatives have asked Attorney General Gary King to join a lawsuit that would repeal the health care reform bill. The move mirrors a national trend by some Republican attorneys general who are suing to stop the reforms.
“The United States Constitution specifically reserves powers to the states, and that was done for a reason,” House Minority Leader Tom Taylor, R-Farmington, said in a statement. “Congress should take another look at this legislation because it violates the Constitution.”
“The national health care bill is currently being read and studied with particular attention given to how it might affect New Mexico citizens,” Philip Sisneros, a spokesman for Attorney General King, told The Independent by e-mail. “When that process is complete AG King will be in a much better position to decide what action this office will take next.”
Kathleen Sebelius, the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services, has said that such lawsuits are politically motivated.
“I think that the vast majority of lawsuits have been filed by Attorneys General in states where they have also some interest in higher office,” said Sebelius, in a speech to the National Press Club in Washington D.C. “I’m going to let the lawyers go debate the situation. [But] we are confident that the legal standing of the law is solid and that this has more to do with politics than policy.”
All seats in the New Mexico House of Representatives will be up for election this November.
“The Constitution allows for the federal government to regulate interstate commerce, but this new law goes beyond what is allowed in the Constitution and punishes citizens for not taking action,” House Minority Whip Keith Gardner, R-Roswell, said in a statement. “I hope the Attorney General takes this seriously and pursues a lawsuit along with the 18 other states.”
Such a lawsuit may find a tough time in the courts; constitutional experts told McClatchy last month that a repeal by the Supreme Court is unlikely.
