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The Spectacle Blog
U.S. District Judge Roger Vinson on Monday became the second federal judge to declare the national health care law’s individual mandate unconstitutional.
The decision concerns the lawsuit based in Florida and involving 26 states, and follows a similar decision last month in the suit based in Virginia.
But Vinson’s decision went a step further than the Virginia ruling by not only declaring that the mandate was unconstitutional, but striking down the rest of the law as a result.
As enacted, the law did not include what’s known as a “severability clause,” which specifies that if one part of the law is struck down, the rest of the law stands. Those challenging the law have argued that as a result, the whole law should be struck down, too. While U.S. District Judge Henry Hudson of Richmond declined to do so, Vinson argued that, “because the individual mandate is unconstitutional and not severable, the entire Act must be declared void.”
The Obama administration has launched an appeal in the Virginia suit, and is expected to do so in the Florida-based suit as well, likely setting the stage for an eventual showdown in the U.S. Supreme Court.
Read the ruling here.
View all comments (18) | Leave a comment
More Blog Posts by Philip Klein
http://spectator.org/blog/2011/01/31/federal-judge-declares-mandate
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Al Adab| 1.31.11 @ 3:18PM
More good news. Twenty-six states equals 52 Senators a majority.. Will they vote to uphold their State's position?
Too Many Tims| 1.31.11 @ 3:34PM
Florida? Supreme Court? High stakes?
Deja Vu
I Survived Arlen Specter| 1.31.11 @ 3:55PM
This is encouraging, but I won't believe Obamacare is dead until Obama himself admits it. If Obama, Pelosi, & Dingy Harry hadn't insisted on health insurance being mandatory for everyone whether they can afford it or not & threatened IRS enforcement of this, Obamacare probably wouldn't be an issue like it is now. If Obama, Pelosi, & Dingy Harry had been serious about real "healthcare reform" they would have tried to do something about extortionate malpractice premiums doctors face due to frivolous lawsuits which help drive malpractice costs up which also drive healthcare costs up. Of course, too many members of Congress are beholden to the trial lawyers lobby also. Until this changes healthcare costs will never recede.
Wayne | 1.31.11 @ 4:44PM
Oh, they are beholden to the AMA also. It is a government enabled monopoly.
Deborah D | 1.31.11 @ 3:56PM
One more nail in this Dracula of a bill's coffin! I'm ready for the stake in the heart! Thank you, Judge Vinson!
Ken (Old Texican)| 1.31.11 @ 3:57PM
Too many Tims,
Evidently, this was a federal court. Florida's Supreme Court does not come into play if that is the case.
It may go to a federal appeals court first.?????
MyGirlFriday| 1.31.11 @ 4:01PM
"The entire Act must be declared void." Yes, that verb....without its object would best describe what the national health care law really is.
seriocomic222| 1.31.11 @ 4:22PM
On CNN's website, this headline:
BREAKING: Florida judge strikes down parts of health care reform
http://tinyurl.com/4tr33pd
Parts?
Helen Dial | 1.31.11 @ 4:30PM
The bill is not only unconstitutional however the bill is illegal and should be passed off as illegal. The buying and selling of bills makes it illegal. And Nancy admitting she would not count the vote until she had enough to pass illegal. SO ---- illegal illegal
Wayne | 1.31.11 @ 4:48PM
I would like to see some of these people arrested. It is illegal and smacks of corruptions. We have become much too tolerant of illegal behavior from politicians. But I am still waiting for Barney Frank and Dodds to do the perp walk.
Conservative Bob| 2.1.11 @ 10:55AM
Don't hold your breath..... their crimes have harmed millions of Americans, many of whom will never recover but these fools will never be held to account.
George S| 1.31.11 @ 4:36PM
In a perfect world, an appeal to the Circuit Courts would be a tough hurdle to climb without showing why the District Court misapplied the law or is wrong in its interpretation of the Constitution. Yet today its an almost automatic, just the way big government proponents like -- a chance for their guys to overrule sensible rulings. Nowhere in the Constitution is an appeal to the Supreme Court automatic. The Constitution implies that SCOTUS settles differences in opinion of two lower courts or a difference between circuit courts. A tie breaker that can guide lower courts in the future. If both appellate courts in their respective jurisdictions uphold FL and VA, then SCOTUS really has no business getting involved as the law is settled. We cannot have our future ride on the whim of Anthony Kennedy.
kevinsoberg | 1.31.11 @ 5:44PM
Unfortunately, the Court has become politicized. An ideological dispute this contentious all but guarantees fast-tracking the Administration's appeals to SCOTUS. Notice again how precedent only applies when it's not the Left's "ox getting gored."
Steve in Pittsburgh| 1.31.11 @ 6:39PM
5 SCOTUS justices at the SOTU address, 4 not.
I am not optomistic.
Lullabys, Legends and Lies| 1.31.11 @ 7:07PM
Say what you will about Scott Brown, and how disappointed you are with him ever since he got elected (I am), but if it weren't for his shocking election in January 2010, the Democrats could've bounced this Bill (now Law) back and forth between the Senate and the House, and at some point remembered to add the stupid severability clause to it, and with it added in there, we wouldn't have the victory we do today. Whew, that was a long sentence!! Nancy Pelosi screwed up big time, by not adding this clause, because now the whole shebang (no pun intended) is going to go down in flames, because she forgot to read her own Bill first, therefore she didn't know what "wasn't" in it, the stupid severability clause.
Mimi| 1.31.11 @ 8:22PM
I just want to thank all The PATRIOTS who worked so hard to bring this case to two GOOD judges......American Justice at work!
We now will not have to hire 16,000 NEW IRS agents to arrest our young people just starting out for not purchasing Health Insurance. One less worry for a Mother to bear. This LAW was terrible in every way, badly written, and really a liberal life-time wish. We need a clear, 3 page bill without any FEDERAL take-over...simple changes that will keep the fantastic medical care we now have and solve the .biggest problems only ....NOT destroy our freedoms. Send this Problem to the STATES .
granma/granny| 1.31.11 @ 11:00PM
How much longer does my 9 year old grandson have to worry that Obama has a bullet or a black pill with my name on it? This child lost his grandfather in March 2009 and in sad moments he hums Taps and gives his Cub Scout salute to Poppy.
He has asked me many times why the president want to kill his grandma. I tell him it is not personal, its a matter of making his Health Plan work. I also assured him, despite everyone's assessment of 83 year old women, I am healthy and there is nothing Obama can do about it.
granma/granny| 1.31.11 @ 11:01PM
How many other children in this once proud country fear their president is out to get their grandma?