A group of faith leaders, whose politics lean left, want Republican Tennessee Attorney General Herb Slatery to back out of a lawsuit fighting Obamacare on behalf of state residents.
Members of the Southern Christian Coalition made that clear at a press conference last week at Legislative Plaza in Nashville, according to The Tennessee Tribune.
“The immorality of this lawsuit still stands. It is an affront to our call as a follower of a loving and compromising God. For 30 years before I became a pastor, I practiced nursing. I know what happens when health care coverage is not there,” said the Rev. Morgan Gordy of Christ Lutheran Church in Nashville.
Minister Kelli X of The Village Church in Nashville also spoke at the press conference, the website reported.
As The Tennessee Star reported last month, a federal judge in Texas recently ruled Obamacare is constitutionally flawed because the lawsuit Slatery participated in alongside several other state attorneys general.
In 2012 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled the individual mandate is allowed because the government enforces it through a tax penalty.
As TNJ: On the Hill reported last year, though, Republican attorneys general in 20 states filed a new lawsuit, this one in Texas, asking courts to overturn Obamacare. The lawsuit contended that without the individual mandate Obamacare is unconstitutional. A recent tax cut package zeroed out the individual mandate.
“At the heart of this case is the Commerce Clause of our Constitution that, according to the court, prevents Congress from compelling Tennesseans to buy insurance, especially if they can’t afford it or don’t want it,” Slatery said in a press release.
“Ultimately, it is up to Congress to provide lawful solutions to healthcare coverage, not just debate or campaign on it.”
Unlike his predecessor, Democrat Bob Cooper, Slatery fought the law on behalf of the Tennessee residents who want it gone.
Cooper wanted nothing to do with challenging Obamacare in court, even though Tennessee is overall a conservative state.
As Town Hall reported in 2014, Obamacare’s harsh effects throughout all of Tennessee apparently failed to persuade Cooper to join 27 other state attorneys general in fighting the law. This was one of the early challenges officials in several states filed after former Democratic President Barack Obama signed it into law in 2010.
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Chris Butler is an investigative journalist at The Tennessee Star. Follow Chris on Facebook. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Herb Slatery” by Tennessee Attorney General Office.
Dear left leaning pastors
When you demand abortion is outlawed then maybe I will take you seriously. Leftist Christian is an oxymoron
It is most assuredly NOT the responsibility of Congress nor any other governmental body to provide health care – hospitals and care providers have always made provisions for those who could not afford health care – through to the mid-1960’s, prior to the government getting it claws into health care, the amount of GDP spent on health care was under 6% – now it has almost tripled to just under 18%. The vast expansion of the insurance industry has caused the average hospital stay to be well beyond the means of the average worker – that did not used to be the case, and that is by design, not accident making insurance mandatory by default.