A federal district judge in Virginia ruled on Monday that the keystone provision in the Obama health care law is unconstitutional, becoming the first court in the country to invalidate any part of the sprawling act and insuring that appellate courts will receive contradictory opinions from below.
Judge Henry E. Hudson declined to freeze implementation of the law pending appeal, meaning that there should be no immediate effect of his decision. But the ruling is likely to create confusion among the public and further destabilize political support for the law.
Judge Hudson wrote that the law’s central requirement that most Americans obtain health insurance exceeds the regulatory authority granted to Congress under the Commerce Clause of the Constitution.
The insurance mandate is central because insurers say they cannot afford treatment for expensive chronic conditions unless healthy people have policies as well.
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