Attorney General Sam Olens announced that Georgia has joined 20 other states in filing an amicus brief with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit in a lawsuit challenging federal health care reform. The brief supports the lawsuit, Kinder v. Geithner, filed by Missouri Lieutenant Governor Peter Kinder and four other plaintiffs.

“To date, over half the states in our union are legally challenging the constitutionality of federal healthcare reform,” said Attorney General Sam Olens. “While Georgia is involved in a separate lawsuit, we will use every opportunity to express our objections to the federal government’s over-reaching and unconstitutional healthcare law.”

In July 2010, Kinder v. Geithner was filed with the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri. The district judge subsequently dismissed the lawsuit, and Lieutenant Governor Kinder and the other plaintiffs appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. The 26 state lawsuit, in which Georgia is a party, is pending before the 11^th Circuit Court of Appeals.

The other which filed the brief are: Florida, Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Idaho, Louisiana, Maine, Michigan, Nebraska, Nevada, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Washington and Wisconsin.

A copy of the brief is attached.