On Monday, December 13th, Virginia federal judge Henry E. Hudson ruled that the central provision in Obama’s Healthcare law is not constitutional, making him the first judge to formally invalidate a part of the law. The ruling calls into the question the provision of mandatory health insurance for most Americans, and Judge Hudson posits that rendering healthcare a compulsory expense for Americans gives Congress undue authority under the Commerce Clause, and is thus, unconstitutional. In other words, making Americans buy health insurance exceeds the regulatory authority granted to Congress, according to this case.
This specific suit was filed by Virginia’s Republican attorney general, Kenneth T. Cuccinelli II on March 23rd—the same day that President Obama ratified the health care bill. Well-known for his conservative stances on gay rights, Cuccinelli claims that the case is not about health insurance, but “about liberty.” This sentiment is indeed echoed on his website, where he refers to the suit as “the 21st Century version of the ‘shot heard 'round the world.’”
Thus far, all but one of the 20 attorneys general and governors who filed a similar case in Pensacola, Fla., are Republicans. Cuccinelli chose to file independently in his home state. These legal actions fall keenly along party lines, and reinforce the idea that the lawsuits are as much a political assault as a constitutional one, as the White House contends.
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