Monday, 13 Dec 2010 12:11 PM
RICHMOND, Va. – A federal judge declared the Obama
administration's healthcare law unconstitutional Monday, siding
with Virginia's attorney general in a dispute that both sides
agree the U.S. Supreme Court ultimately will decide.
U.S. District Judge Henry E. Hudson is the first federal judge
to strike down the law, which two others in Virginia and
Michigan have upheld. Several other lawsuits have been dismissed
and others are pending, including one 20 other states have
joined in a Florida filing.
Virginia Republican Attorney General Kenneth Cuccinelli filed a
separate lawsuit in defense of a new state law that prohibits
the government from forcing state residents to buy health
insurance. However, the key issue was his claim that the federal
law's requirement that citizens buy health insurance or pay a
penalty is unconstitutional.
Hudson, a Republican whom President George W. Bush appointed,
sounded sympathetic to the state's case when he heard oral
arguments in October, and the White House expected to lose this
round.
Administration officials told reporters last week that a
negative ruling would have virtually no impact on the law's
implementation, noting that its two major provisions — the
coverage mandate and the creation of new insurance markets —
don't take effect until 2014.
The central issue in Virginia's lawsuit was whether the federal
government has the power under the constitution to impose the
insurance requirement. The Justice Department said the mandate
is a proper exercise of the government's authority under the
Commerce Clause.
Cuccinelli argued that, although the government can regulate
economic activity that substantially affects interstate
commerce, the decision not to buy insurance amounts to economic
inactivity that is beyond the government's reach.
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