The American Civil Rights Union (ACRU) filed an amicus curiae brief today in the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit in support of Florida and other states in the case of State of Florida, et al. v HHS, et al. seeking to strike down Obamacare.

“The brief argues that Obamacare’s individual mandate is unconstitutional because the delegated, enumerated power in the Commerce Clause to regulate interstate commerce does not include compelling people to buy government-designated health insurance,” said ACRU General Counsel Peter Ferrara, who wrote the brief.

The Heartland Institute recently published a book-length study by Mr. Ferrara entitled The Obamacare Disaster: An Appraisal of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

The ACRU brief also argues that the entire 2,700-page law should be struck down as unconstitutional because the Obamacare law did not include a severability clause. Such clauses state that if any part of a law is found unconstitutional, this does not invalidate the rest of the law. In the first decision rendered in the Florida case, on Jan. 31, 2011, U.S. District Judge Roger Vinson cited the unconstitutionality of the individual mandate and the absence of a severability clause in striking down the entire Obamacare law.

This latest brief is the second one filed by ACRU in the Florida case. ACRU has also filed three amicus briefs in Virginia’s case against the Obamacare mandate, Virginia, Ex Rel. Cucinnelli v. Sebelius, Sec. of HHS, which was heard on Tuesday in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.

“We’re hopeful that the misleadingly named Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act will eventually be found unconstitutional and that America will be spared the consequences of Obamacare,” said Susan A. Carleson, the ACRU’s CEO and Chairman.

READ THE AMICUS BRIEF HERE. (PDF)