This was a historic week in the battle to defend individuals' rights against the federal government's overreach of authority. The much-anticipated three days of oral argument in the federal health care lawsuit took place before the U.S. Supreme Court. I sat in the courtroom each day to hear oral argument from our side and from the federal government's side.

Just over two years ago, Congress passed the Affordable Care Act--an unprecedented move by the federal government that, among other things, required every individual to purchase a product simply because he or she was alive. Florida immediately filed a lawsuit to protect our freedom from this government intrusion and to defend the United States Constitution. Eventually, more than half of the states in the nation joined the lawsuit.

I have always been confident that our case was the ideal one to be heard by the Supreme Court. We had strong rulings by Judge Vinson and by the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals.

This week, the Supreme Court heard six hours of oral argument on the case--the most time allotted to oral argument before the Supreme Court in the past 50 years. Paul Clement did an astounding job of presenting a strong case on our behalf. The days were filled with rigorous debate in the courtroom and electrified public demonstrations outside the courtroom.


This case is paramount in determining whether our federal government will be one of limited powers, as intended by our Founding Fathers. If the federal government can compel us to purchase a
product, there would be no limits to what the federal government could force us to do.

This week, we clearly defended our position that the federal government had overstepped its bounds with the Affordable Care Act, and we will not allow the federal government to trample on our rights. The Supreme Court had heard our case, and we expect a ruling from the Supreme Court this June.