A federal appellate court in Virginia threw out a suit filed by Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli which challenged President Obama?s 2010 health care reform bill, ruling Thursday that the law?s mandate which requires individuals to buy health insurance ?imposes no obligations? on the commonwealth.
The three-judge panel of the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that an attorney general has no legal standing to sue the government on behalf of the individuals who may be affected, according to the opinion issued by the court.
Cuccinelli filed his lawsuit in direct response to Obama?s health care legislation, which was signed March 23, 2010. Cuccinelli argued that the new legislation conflicted with the Virginia Health Care Freedom Act, which prohibits federal and state governments from requiring citizens to own health insurance.
Twenty-six other states, and several other private prosecutors, had also filed lawsuits similar to Cuccinelli?s; each disputed that it was not within the federal government?s power to mandate that individuals have health insurance.
Thursday?s ruling overturns last year?s ruling by a lower court which determined that Cuccinelli was entitled to sue and found that the federal insurance requirement overstepped Congress?s Constitutional powers.
In June, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati, Ohio ruled in favor of the law. Conversely, the 11th Circuit Court in Atlanta, Ga. concluded the individual mandate portion of the law was unconstitutional in an Aug. 12 hearing. With these conflicting court opinions, the debate will most likely make its way up to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Cuccinelli already had plans for what would happen if he had won the suit or not, according to his website. ?If we lose, we will likely appeal to the Supreme Court directly, in the hopes of resolving this case as quickly as possible,? he stated June 24.
Political analysts agree that the case likely will reach the high court.
?It looks like the Supreme Court will eventually decide on the constitutionality of the mandate to buy individual health insurance, and that will happen probably next year,? said Kyle Kondik, communication?s director for the University?s Center for Politics. ?And the ruling can come sometime ? [next] summertime, which of course would be right in the middle of the presidential race.?
It is difficult to know how the Supreme Court will eventually rule, Kondik said. Of the nine Supreme Court justices, four have ruled more liberal in the past, while four other judges have had conservative tendencies. This leaves Anthony Kennedy as the ?swing justice,? Kondik explained. ?So it could very well be a five to four Supreme Court decision, one way or the other. Ultimately [it?s] going to come down to Kennedy ? and how Kennedy is going to decide is pretty difficult to predict,? Kondik said.
No matter what the final ruling will look like, the issue is likely to be brought ?back into the limelight? in the upcoming presidential election campaign, since the projected date for a Supreme Court decision would probably fall into next summer, Kondik said.
?The support battle over the individual mandate will certainly be in the news next year and therefore it could play some sort of role over the election,? he said.
Should the court decide in favor of the legislation, ?President Obama and the Democrats will probably say that this is one of their great legislative accomplishments ? something that Democrats have been trying to do for a long time,? Kondik said.
Source: http://uwire.com/2011/09/12/health-care-law-survives-legal-challenge-in-virginia/
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