The new Kansas Attorney General, Derek Schmidt, filed a request to add Kansas to Florida’s legal challenge of the federal health care act.

Schmidt had promised during his campaign last fall that his first action as Attorney General would be to join the Florida lawsuit. “This lawsuit is about standing up for the rule of law and protecting the liberties guaranteed by our Constitution,” said Schmidt. “Our federal government is designed to be a government of limited, enumerated powers, and we do not believe it has the power to order citizens into commerce so it can then regulate their conduct under authority of the Commerce Clause. Whatever the merits or demerits of health care reform, the ends cannot justify an unconstitutional means.”

Florida’s lawsuit disputes the constitutionality of requiring Americans to have health insurance. 20 other states have already joined Florida.