[JURIST] Thirteen state attorneys general, all Republicans, demanded in a letter [text, PDF] sent Wednesday to the Speaker of the US House of Representatives and the Senate Majority Leader that a controversial provision in the health care reform bill [text, PDF] approved [JURIST news report] in the Senate [official website] last week should be struck because it unfairly benefits the state of Nebraska. In the letter, written by South Carolina Attorney General Henry MacMaster [official website], the group said they would legally challenge the provision if it were not removed, citing reports of the deal struck by Nebraska senator Ben Nelson (D-NE) [official website; statement] in exchange for his vote. The attorneys general argued that the provision is unconstitutional and "antithetical to the legitimate federal interests in the bill" that "the states share with the federal government the cost of providing such care to their citizens" because it exempts Nebraska from such shared cost. They also asserted that

[t]he fundamental unfairness of H.R. 3590 may also give rise to claims under the due process, equal protection, privileges and immunities clauses and other provisions of the Constitution... Since the only basis for the Nebraska preference is arbitrary and unrelated to the substance of the legislation, it is unlikely that the difference would survive even minimal scrutiny.