After the attorney general refused to move forward, Gov. Jim Gibbons this week said he had put together a volunteer legal team so Nevada can join as many as 18 other states in a federal lawsuit against ObamaCare.
The governor took action through an executive order.
The lawsuit is just and necessary. The effort by the president and congressional Democrats to nationalize one-sixth of the U.S. economy raises serious questions regarding the 10th Amendment, the Commerce Clause and Article 1 of the Constitution.
Is there no limit to congressional authority?
Meanwhile, the state's chief law enforcement officer, Catherine Cortez Masto, was not happy with the governor's move. "My office is now in the position of having to consider the necessary legal options to take in response to the governor's most recent action," the attorney general said.
This is rich.
Ms. Masto originally said one of the reasons she didn't want to join other states in suing over the health insurance mandates was because she thought it would be a waste of money since Nevada could piggyback on the effort for free. Now the governor gets a voluntary legal team to attack the issue at no expense to the taxpayer, and she threatens to dip into her agency budget to stop the effort?
Somebody's politics are showing.
Ms. Masto contends the governor has no authority to do what he did, even though state statutes clearly say she had no authority to ignore the governor's directive that she join the lawsuit.
If Ms. Masto is insistent on sending this matter to court to determine who has what authority, fine. But if she's truly concerned about wasting money on frivolous legal actions, she'd be better off jumping on board the governor's effort and doing her job.