No Early Review of Health Care Law by Supreme Court

 Econintersect:  The U.S. Supreme Courts has turned down a request by Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli II’s for expedited review of the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.  There have been a number of cases filed across the country (25 were listed in the Washington Post on January 31).  Rulings in lower federal courts have been largely divided along party lines, with Republican judges tending to find in favor of plaintiffs presenting arguements on unconstutionality and judges appointed by Democrats tending to dismiss the complaints.As reported by GEI News there are two cases waiting Appeals Court Hearings in Virginia.  One ruling by a Republican judge in western Virginia found the individual mandate requirement of the law unconstitutional.  A second ruling by a Democratic judge in western Virginia has upheld the constitutionality of the law.  GEI News has also reported on a ruling against the law by a Republican judge in Florida.

From the Washington Post:

Responding to the Supreme Court’s decision, Cuccinelli said in a statement that the action was “disappointing but not surprising,” given the rarity of such expedited cases.

“We asked the United States Supreme Court for expedited review of our lawsuit because Virginia and other states are already spending huge sums to implement their portions of the health-care act, businesses are already making decisions about whether to cut or keep employee health plans, and citizens are in limbo until the Supreme Court rules,” he said. “Asking the court to expedite our lawsuit was about removing this crippling and costly uncertainty as quickly as possible.”

The Obama administration argued that since the mandate requiring insurance doesn’t take effect until 2014  there was no need to expedite a Supreme Court hearing. 

Sources:  Washington Post here, here  and GEI News here, here