The Redhunter

Of course, the Obama Administration will appeal the decision to the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in Richmond, Virginia, though no matter what they decide it will eventually go to the Supreme Court. Using just this reasoning AG Cuccinelli has even offered to bypass the appeals court and take it straight to the SOCUS.

Legal Niceties

A few legal details from Daniel Foster at NRO:

The ruling by District Judge Henry Hudson says the law "exceeds the constitutional boundaries of congressional power" by requiring individuals to purchase health care coverage under the "individual mandate." It is the first federal ruling against the law.

"Neither the Supreme Court nor any federal circuit court of appeals has extended Commerce Clause powers to compel an individual to involuntarily enter the stream of commerce by purchasing a commodity in the private market," Hudson wrote. "In doing so, enactment of the [individual mandate] exceeds the Commerce Clause powers vested in Congress under Article I ."

Crucially, however, Hudson refused to issue an injunction preventing the implementation of the law, and ruled that the unconstitutional parts of it could be severed from the whole.

Carrie Severino has more legal analysis over at NRO, as do Todd Gaziano & Robert Alt, so be sure and follow the links.

Bty, spare me the "so isn't this the sort of judicial activism you conservatives deplore?" What we don't like is judges pushing their social or economic agendas at us and twisting the Constitution in the process.

But What Do the People Want?

Is AG Cuccinelli and all of the other attorneys general who have filed lawsuits against ObamaCare trying to thwart the will of the people? Will the rascally Republicans take away what he people want?

Not at all. Via Powerline, pollster Scott Rasmussen has found that 60 percent of Americans want ObamaCare repealed, a new high:

The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey shows that 60% of Likely U.S. Voters at least somewhat favor repeal of the health care law while 34% are opposed. As has been the case since the law was first passed, those who favor repeal feel more passionately than those who want to keep the law--46% Strongly Favor repeal while just 23% who are Strongly Opposed.

I suppose die-hard liberals will say this is due to "misinformation" spread by Fox News, but given that they've got CNN, MSNBC, ABC, NBC, CBS, heaven knows PBS, The New York Times, Washington Post, etc in their corner, not to mention that President Obama has talked his head off about the subject, that's not tenable.

The Future

As I said earlier, the case will of course be appealed, and I am not optimistic about the Supreme Court ruling that the individual mandate is unconstitutional as did Judge Hudson. As such, in the end the whole thing will be decided in Congress; either the Republicans will repeal and replace ObamaCare or they won't.

Jonathan H. Adler, again at NRO (which seems to have the best analysis, at least that I can find quickly) points out that

Today's district court ruling invalidating the individual mandate has tremendous significance. Among other things, it will make it much more difficult for defenders of the law to treat arguments that the mandate is unconstitutional as frivolous or extreme, as a federal court has now concluded otherwise. Given that federal judges are generally reluctant to strike down federal laws (as they should be), this decision could also give other judges considering parallel suits more confidence in their convictions.

They're spinning like tops over at the Daily Kooks, downplaying the ruling as much as possible. But I think that the political winds are blowing in the right direction, and that if things continue as they are the days of Obama Care are numbered.