Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli will petition the U.S. Supreme Court to directly hear the state’s lawsuit over the federal health care law and bypass the normal appeals process.
“Given the uncertainty caused by the divergent rulings of the various district courts on the constitutionality of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, we feel that it is necessary to seek resolution of this issue as quickly as possible,” said Cuccinelli.
Such a petition is rare, however, and is only used in cases of “imperative public importance” that would justify bypassing a normal appeals process.
In the case brought forth by Cuccinelli, U.S. District Judge Henry Hudson ruled in December that the law’s so-called “individual mandate,” which would require most people to buy health insurance or face penalties, is unconstitutional, but he declined to declare the entire law unconstitutional. Meanwhile, in a separate multi-state case in Florida this week, a judge ruled that because the mandate is unconstitutional, the entire law is unconstitutional.
Two other disrtrict courts, one in Michigan and one in Virginia in a separate case filed by Liberty University, have upheld the constitutionality of the law.
The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals recently agreed to expedite the state of Virginia’s case, with hearings tentatively scheduled for May.
