WASHINGTON, D.C., December 14, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) – In the wake of a major victory for foes of the Obama administration’s health care reform, the attorney general behind the first ruling against the law is hoping to speed up the case by sending it straight to the U.S. Supreme Court – a move the Obama administration is set to oppose.
Politico reported Tuesday that, in a background briefing last week, administration officials told reporters that sending the lawsuit to the Supreme Court would be “premature” and the administration wouldn’t support it.
If the case is not put on a fast track, the legal wrangling around the law could take years. The next step would be a hearing before a three-judge panel of the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals, likely followed by a hearing with the full court of 13 judges.
Virginia attorney general Ken Cuccinelli, along with governor Bob McDonnell, has called for an expedited review of the case in order to alleviate the uncertainty of American businesses, who will be left hanging as to how they might or might not be forced to invest their resources.
“We certainly hope it gets there [to the Supreme Court] soon, because it certainly introduces an amazing amount of uncertainty for our whole economy,” Cuccinelli told CNN’s John King.
Legal experts cited by Politico have called the move to expedite rare and unlikely to succeed, noting that the new health insurance exchange set up by the law does not take effect until 2014, leaving plenty of time for the case to be decided in the normal way.
The attorney general maintains, however, that the effects of the law are already being felt, and could backfire on the administration if the matter is not settled quickly.
“I actually think it’s harder not to make the request [to expedite] than to make the request,” he said.
“I think this administration could benefit by moving this case faster, and reducing the uncertainty in the economy more quickly. … Whatever the outcome, knowing the outcome is a benefit by itself for all Americans.”
Out of the 25 cases filed challenging the new health care reform law, three have received rulings. The first two upheld the law’s constitutionality, a fact White House press secretary Robert Gibbs touted as evidence that the law would ultimately succeed.
Even in those cases, however, the administration’s arguments were not found to be airtight: their contention that the individual mandate counted as a type of tax was rejected in both suits.