Virginia can proceed with health-care overhaul lawsuit
By ANDREW HARRIS AND WILLIAM MCQUILLEN. .. U.S. District Judge Henry E. Hudson, in Richmond, Va., denied a Justice Department request to throw out the suit, rejecting arguments that the state had no right to sue. Virginia said Congress had unconstitutionally exceeded its powers in requiring individuals to buy insurance.. "While this case raises a host of complex constitutional issues, all seem to distill to the single question of whether or not Congress has the power to regulate - and tax - a citizen's decision not to participate in interstate commerce," Hudson wrote.. Neither the Supreme Court nor any other federal appeals court has squarely addressed the issue, for which there is "some authority arguably supporting the theory underlying each side's position," the judge said.. Virginia filed suit within minutes of Obama's signing the bill on March 23. Next day, Gov. Bob McDonnell signed legislation clashing with the federal law.. Florida, joined by 19 other states, filed a separate lawsuit calling the health-reform law unconstitutional. A hearing in that case hasn't been scheduled until September.
