Virginia Judge Declares Portions of Health Care Law Unconstitutional

In a closely-watched case, a federal court judge in Virginia has ruled (pdf) that the individual mandate provisions of the Affordable Care Act are unconstitutional. Judge Henry E. Hudson declared that requiring most people to obtain minimal essential health care coverage by 2014 or pay a monetary penalty “exceeds the constitutional boundaries of congressional power.” Specifically, the court concluded that “Congress lacked power under the Commerce Clause, or associated Necessary and Proper Clause, to compel an individual to involuntarily engage in a private commercial transaction, as contemplated by the Minimum Essential Coverage Provision.”

Judge Hudson further explained:

A thorough survey of pertinent constitutional case law has yielded no reported decisions from any federal appellate courts extending the Commerce clause or General Welfare clause to encompass regulation of a person’s decision not to purchase a product, notwithstanding its effect on interstate commerce or role in a global regulatory scheme. The unchecked expansion of congressional power to the limits suggested by the Minimum Essential Coverage Provision would invite unbridled exercise of federal police powers. At its core, this dispute is not simply about regulating the business of insurance – or crafting a scheme of universal health insurance coverage – it’s about an individual’s right to choose to participate.

The court refused, however, to invalidate the entire health care law. Judge Hudson ruled that the individual mandate provisions be severed, leaving the remainder of the law intact. The court also declined to enjoin the law’s implementation, acknowledging that the individual mandate provisions would not take effect until the year 2014, and that “the final word will undoubtedly reside with a higher court.”

This case is notable in that it is the first of several similar cases challenging the Affordable Care Act to find the law unconstitutional. Earlier this month, another federal court judge in Virginia dismissed a lawsuit challenging the Affordable Care Act’s constitutionality, as did a New Jersey judge. A Michigan judge likewise dismissed such a lawsuit in October. Another lawsuit filed in Florida and joined by twenty other states, however, is still pending. On October 14, 2010, the district court judge in that case dismissed four of the six claims in the Attorney General’s suit, but allowed the challenges to the individual mandate provisions to proceed.

Such conflicting decisions will no doubt land the matter before the U.S. Supreme Court.

This entry was written by Ilyse Schuman.

Photo credit: evirgen