A Washington, D.C.-based advocacy organization says that the federal health reform should be declared unconstitutional because it is cannot function without the individual mandate, which the group also argues is unconstitutional.

Eric Cantor

The American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ) filed an amicus brief with the U.S. Supreme Court on concerning the validity of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), the federal health reform, passed March 2010. The brief said the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit was correct in declaring the individual mandate unconstitutional, but incorrect when it did not declare the entire PPACA invalid, because the two can’t be separated.

“It is clear that ObamaCare was never designed to and cannot operate without the individual mandate, a key unconstitutional provision that forces Americans to purchase health insurance under penalty of law,” said Jay Sekulow, chief counsel of the ACLJ, in a statement. “The fact is the unconstitutional individual mandate is the essential element of the health care law, and the balance of ObamaCare cannot function independently without it. You can’t have one without the other.”

The ACLJ represents 117 members of Congress (about 30% of the U.S. House), led by Dr. Paul Broun (R-Ga.), including Lou Barletta, (R-Pa.), Roscoe Bartlett, (R-Md.), Randy Forbes, (R-Va.), Scott Garrett, (R-N.J.), Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.), Michael Grimm (R-N.Y.), Andy Harris (R-Md.), Mike Kelley (R-Pa.), Joseph Pitts (R-Pa.), Scott Rigell, (R-Va.) and House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.). It also represents more than 103,000 Americans who are seeking to have the PPACA declared unconstitutional.

The ACLJ appealed a decision by a federal appeals court to the Supreme Court, asking the high court to consider the appeal separately or hold it until the health care cases now before it are decided.

The advocacy group also is preparing to file amicus briefs next month with the high court focusing on several other issues tied to ObamaCare. One will argue that the Anti-Injunction Act, which prohibits a lawsuit from stopping a tax before it has been imposed, does not apply to ObamaCare. Another brief will address why the individual mandate is unconstitutional.

The high court will hear oral arguments on the challenges to ObamaCare in March, the ACLJ reported.