Source:
PoliticoIn the first substantive legal ruling on President Barack Obama’s health care reform law, a federal judge has rejected the Justice Department’s request to dismiss a lawsuit from Virginia’s state government challenging the reform’s requirement that individuals purchase health insurance.
U.S. District Court Judge Henry. Hudson ruled that enough legal issues were in dispute in the case to allow the suit, brought by Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, to go forward. At issue is whether the insurance mandate included in the reform exceeds the federal government’s authority under the Constitution — in particular, whether Congress’s ability to regulate commerce allows the federal government to penalize those who decline to buy or obtain health insurance.
The lawsuit is also based in part on a law passed in that state in March seeking to bar the federal government from imposing any mandate to purchase health insurance.
“Unquestionably, this regulation radically changes the landscape of health insurance coverage in America,” Hudson wrote in a 32-page decision filed Monday morning. “Never before has the Commerce Clause … been extended this far.”
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http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0810/40550.html
This will test the commerce clause and perhaps break it...