Conway
FRANKFORT, Ky. (Legal Newsline) - Kentucky Attorney General Jack Conway says there is no reason for the state to join a multistate lawsuit against President Barack Obama's federal health care law now that it's headed to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Conway made the comments during a live debate Monday night on Kentucky Educational Television, according to the Louisville Courier-Journal.
During the debate, Republican opponent Todd P'Pool reaffirmed his commitment to joining the lawsuit and attacked Conway for not joining the "most epic legal battle of our time."
The GOP candidate says the reform, which passed last year, will change the way area hospitals and physicians do business, kill jobs in the private sector, hurt health care in the state and devastate Kentucky's budget.
Fourteen states, along with 12 others, filed a challenge to the law in March 2010. The 26 states contend that its individual mandate requiring that all Americans purchase health insurance or face a penalty is unconstitutional.
The states filed a petition last month to have their challenge heard immediately by the U.S. Supreme Court.
But the Democratic incumbent said he wouldn't take away "valuable resources" from the Attorney General's Office to fight the reform.
"I'm going to put Kentucky first," Conway said. "I'm going to attack Kentucky problems."
Kentucky voters head to the polls Nov. 8.
From Legal Newsline: Reach Jessica Karmasek by email at jessica@legalnewsline.com.