The AP (4/7) reports, "The governors of Arizona and Nevada say their states will join 14 others suing the federal government over healthcare reform." On Tuesday night, "Gov. Jan Brewer (R) announced Arizona was joining the suit." On April 1, Brewer signed a measure giving her "authority to skirt the state's Democratic attorney general, Terry Goddard, who declined to sue on the state's behalf." Also on April 6, "Gov. Jim Gibbons (R) signed an executive order for Nevada to join the multistate challenge to the federal legislation."

        The Los Angeles Times (4/7, Powers) reports that "Gibbons announced he would sidestep Atty. Gen. Catherine Cortez Masto, who had declined to join more than a dozen states in challenging the healthcare law's constitutionality, and retain private counsel for the effort." For her part, "Cortez Masto, who agrees with scholars who say a successful legal challenge is a long shot, said Gibbons had no authority to name outside counsel." Gibbons, who "faces a tough GOP primary in June," has recently "amped up his conservative rhetoric," the Times adds.

        The Las Vegas Review-Journal (4/7, Spillman) provides some background, explaining that "the lawsuit in United States District Court in the Northern District of Florida alleges that the healthcare law violates the US Constitution with a mandate that citizens buy health insurance or pay fines to the Internal Revenue Service." However, "Gibbons and his supporters say the law contains an unconstitutional mandate to buy insurance or face a fine, and would foist another $600 million in Medicaid and other costs onto the backs of the state's taxpayers."

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