Florida Judge Rules Against Health Law

A Florida federal judge on Monday ruled that a key plank of the health overhaul passed last March violates the Constitution, in a decision that could threaten the Obama administration's ability to implement the law.

By JANET ADAMY
WSJ

A second federal judge ruled that Congress violated the Constitution by requiring Americans to purchase health insurance in the sweeping health overhaul enacted last year, and said the entire law "must be declared void" because that provision can't be separated.

The ruling by U.S. District Judge Roger Vinson in Florida, a Republican appointee, was the second of four to find that at least part of the law violates the Constitution's Commerce Clause by requiring citizens to carry insurance or pay a fee.

But in asserting that the whole law is unconstitutional, it went much further than an earlier ruling in a Virginia case, and could throw up at least a temporary roadblock to fully implementing the law.

The Florida case is considered the most high profile of a series of federal lawsuits against the health overhaul. Attorneys general and governors from 20 states initially filed the lawsuit, and six more got behind it earlier this month. All but four of them are Republicans.

(More here.)

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