Virginia Lawsuit

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On March 23, 2010, the State of Virginia filed suit against Kathleen Sebelius, in her capacity as Secretary of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, asserting that PPACA is unconstitutional because the law requires Virginia to violate its own state law and because it exceeds the authority of the federal government under the Commerce Clause of the United States Constitution.

Virginia had enacted a law to prohibit any requirement that a resident of Virginia purchase health insurance. Section 1501 of PPACA requires that every legal resident of the United States purchase health insurance by 2014 or face a penalty to be assessed on income tax returns. These two laws stand in direct opposition. Federal law can preempt state law only if the federal law is grounded in an express authority of the United States Constitution.

On May 24, 2010, the United States filed a motion to dismiss the Virginia lawsuit for several reasons including the fact that Section 1501 of PPACA affects only individuals and not the State of Virginia. The motion also argued that Congress does possess the authority to require health insurance coverage under both the Commerce Clause Article 1, Section 8, Clause 3 and under the taxation clause, Article 1, Section 8, Clause 1 of the United States Constitution.

On Dec. 13, 2010, U.S. District Judge Henry Hudson ruled that PPACA's individual mandate provision is unconstitutional. A day later the U.S. Justice Department announced it would appeal the ruling to the U.S. Court of Appeals. On Feb. 8, 2011, Virginia Attorney General Kenneth Cuccinelli petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to hear the case now, rather than wait for the case to be decided by the lower court. But the Supreme Court rejected that request on April 25. The case was heard by the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals on May 10, 2011.

For a more comprehensive examination of this lawsuit, see Review of Virginia Lawsuit below.

Virginia Lawsuit

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