Respond – WLOX interviews Hood on Health Care
Here is the transcript. Hood says it is difficult and deals with the supremacy clause. He says he and other “attorneys general vehemently protect states rights when the federal government comes in to preempt our authority to use our consumer protection laws.”
He says sometimes the commerce clause can be a “stretch” like when it gives congress the right to regulate the growth of marijuana for personal use.
And he says he isn’t going to rush into it.
Hood: We’re still researching the issue, you know, I mean there are some real complicated constitutional issues. I’ve sat down with constitutional scholars, law professors to talk about the commerce clause is a complicated issue as well as you’re dealing with the supremacy clause of the United States Constitutional and the Tenth Amendment – states rights – we attorneys general vehemently protect states rights when the federal government comes in to preempt our authority to use our consumer protection laws. So I’m familiar with that aspect but the others, you know, people in our office are looking at it and soon we should be able to arrive at a conclusion as to what to do. We’re just trying to find if there’s anything that the state has a leg to stand on in filing that suit.
WLOX: Do you think it is constitutional to ask everyone to get health care?
Hood: Well that’s the question we’re looking at. The body of law though, you know, I don’t necessarily agree with it, that the case law of the United States Supreme Court has stated that, you know, that a person who grows marijuana, for example, for personal use in one state, uh, congress has a right to regulate that because they said that affects interstate commerce, because it would be buying it from something else, which seems like a stretch, but that’s a law and so we’ll have to deal with what the law is.
WLOX: And uhm you know some people may think ‘well it feels like Mr. Hood is stalling. You’re just waiting.’ How do you feel about that? You talked about research right?
Hood: Well, you know, if you’re going to file a suit against the United States government, you need to be right. You need to know what you’ll be filing, you’ll be successful at. And so we’re going take our time. We’re not going to let anybody rush us into making some decision. We’re going to make a learned decision. That’s what a lawyer’s supposed to do. Let’s take the emotion and politics out of it and make a decision based upon the dry law.
WLOX: Do you think it’s become more about politics and not about law?
Hood: Well our office is dealing with it from the point of view that it’s strictly the dry law that we’re going to look at. We’ll make a decsion and we’ll do the right thing.
WLOX: One last question, I guess, how long do you think it will take?
Hood: Well, you know, we’ve had that issue for about two weeks now and so we’re we’re. You don’t normally file a suit within a two week period. You work on it, you work on your complaint, you review it. Florida is about to file an amended complaint. I’d like to see what their allegations are in that amended complaint. So, we get all the information we can and we’ll make a decision based on the evidence and the facts.
WLOX: Barbour says he might file one on his own, what do you think about that?
Hood: Well the statute allows him to do so if the attorney general refuses to or neglects to do so.
WLOX: Anything else?
Hood: That’s it.
WLOX: Thank you so much.
Respond Miss.
4/7/10
Magnolia Tribune
