Missouri's Democrat Attorney General Doesn't Approve of Obamacare: "Unconstitutional"

Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster was once a Republican. He may soon find himself kicked out of the Democratic party in Missouri, and one wonders if today's act of courage would be enough to allow him back in.

What did Mr. Koster do? He made a statement saying he believes Obama's prize achievement is unconstitutional.

Koster filed a friend-of-the-court brief with the appeals panel hearing a closely watched challenge to the health care law filed by Florida and more than two dozen other states.

Koster's action does not mean Missouri has formally joined that lawsuit, which claims Obama and Congress overreached by imposing minimum coverage requirements on individuals.

Indeed, in a letter to top state legislative leaders, Koster said his brief was "not based on any opposition to the expansion of health care coverage for uninsured Americans. To the contrary, I favor the expansion of health coverage."

But Koster argues -- as many health care opponents have -- that the law's requirement that every person purchase health insurance from a private company or face a penalty is unconstitutional.

He contends the Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution does not give Congress federal police powers to compel individual citizens who "are not actors in interstate commerce and who have not chosen to enter the stream of commerce to obtain health insurance."