Lawyers for the Justice Department say the U.S. Supreme Court should not bypass the normal appeals process and directly hear Virginia’s challenge to the federal health care law, as has been requested by Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli.
U.S. District Judge Henry Hudson in December ruled that the so-called individual mandate requiring most Americans to eventually buy health insurance is unconstitutional. The Justice Department has since appealed the ruling to the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals.
Cuccinelli, though, has petitioned the Supreme Court to hear the case directly, citing the national uncertainty regarding the implementation of the law.
In a separate, multi-state case in Florida, U.S. District Judge Roger Vinson declared the law unconstituional, arguing that Congress exceeded its authority in mandating that most Americans buy health insurance. Three other federal judges have deemed the law constitutional.
But given the court of appeals’ “imminent consideration of this case, there is no basis for short-circuiting the normal course of appellate review,” according to the brief filed by lawyers for the Justice Department. The Fourth Circuit has already agreed to speed up the case and hear it in May.
