LEGAL PUSHBACK ON OBAMACARE – AT 10:33 A.M. ET:  There are several legal pushbacks underway against Obamacare.  The U.S. Supreme Court is being asked to exempt religious organizations from the contraception and abortion mandates, and the Obama administration, naturally, is asking that these groups be forced to go against their conscience.  This will be a fascinating fight.

At the same time, Republican attorneys-general are taking on the administration, in a new move.  From The Hill:

Eleven GOP attorneys general say the Obama administration is breaking the law by repeatedly making changes to ObamaCare without going through Congress.

The attorneys general specifically criticize President Obama's executive action that allowed insurance companies to keep offering health plans that had been canceled for not meeting ObamaCare's more rigorous standards.

“We support allowing citizens to keep their health insurance coverage, but the only way to fix this problem-ridden law is to enact changes lawfully: through Congressional action,” the attorneys general wrote in a letter to Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. “The illegal actions by this administration must stop.”

They say the healthcare fix was “flatly illegal under federal constitutional and statutory law.”

HHS did not respond to a request for comment.

West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey wrote the letter, which was signed by his counterparts in Alabama, Georgia, Idaho, Kansas, Louisiana, Michigan, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Texas and Virginia.

COMMENT:  I don't know, though, what legal recourse the states have.  How do you challenge a president who is exceeding the law?  I'll follow this.  I'm aware that many other legal challenges are being contemplated.  The key issue is what the Supreme Court is willing to do in response. 

January 3, 2014