Posted on 03/03/2011 10:02:40 AM PST by jazusamo
U.S. District Judge Roger Vinson has issued a stay of his own ruling declaring the health care reform law unconstitutional, giving the Obama administration seven days to file an appeal.
The stay means implementation of the law can proceed pending the administration’s appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.
In his ruling, Vinson repeated what he has said previously — that “the citizens of this country have an interest in having this case resolved as soon as practically possible.”
“That was nearly eleven months ago,” he wrote. “In the time since, the battle lines have been drawn, the relevant case law marshaled, and the legal arguments refined. Almost everyone agrees that the constitutionality of the Act is an issue that will ultimately have to be decided by the Supreme Court of the United States. It is very important to everyone in this country that this case move forward.”
He basically told them they have a week to appeal to the 11th Circuit court (the one above him) or else. I don’t see this as a cave, more like a slap upside the head.
Megyn Kelly on Fox said this is a huge blow to the Obama administration and the judge also told them he did not buy the fact that they did not understand his ruling. The remedy is simple.
he’s making them APPEAL it rather than sitting around delaying, which has been the obama admin aim all along, that they can drag it out and hope against hope that some provisions become popular enough that it would serve to balance against overturning it. this is a GOOD thing. no one but the sup ct can definitively rule on this and that has to happen ASAP. delaying is what the obams wants to do, Judge Vinson is saying um, no, you get the stay but ONLY if you appeal this in 7 days time.
legally, Judge Vinson just stuffed the constitution in Obama’s butt
Then the stay ends, and Vinson can lay the hammer down.
That is exactly what he has done. The Justice dept. has to move the case foward now they can’t keep stalling! This is not good news for Obambicare.
it is most definitely NOT a cave. and the language of the decision was biting and sarcastic, he wasn’t happy to have to CLARIFY what was perfectly clear. he did a fantastic job of dealing with this IMO.
LOL!!!
I can live with that!
I would argue the stay for only 7 days is akin to going the extra mile. The Administration is on notice......... act or lose
By issuing a stay, isn’t Judge Vinson saying that the force of his original ruling was to halt implementation, even though the regime was proceeding.
I think this is a definite win for the good guys!
Obama said it wasn’t as comfy as Larry Sinclair but he could “adjust”
Thanx folks! Clearly, IANAL. (If only!)
I agree. Check post 42, Megyn Kelly commented on this.
i am : ) and i do appellate work. this is a great decision.
FLORIDA JUDGE ORDERS OBAMA TO SEEK EXPEDITED APPELLATE REVIEW OF HIS RULING THAT HEALTHCARE LAW IS UNCONSTITUTIONAL...
U.S. District Judge Roger Vinson ordered the administration to seek an expedited appellate review within the next week of his January 31 ruling that favored arguments by 26 states that the law’s requirement that Americans buy health insurance starting in 2014 or pay a penalty was unconstitutional.
The Obama administration has said previously it would appeal the ruling and continue implementing the law, which includes provisions allowing young adults to remain on their parents’ healthcare insurance and prevents insurers from denying coverage for pre-existing medical conditions.
While Vinson and a federal judge in Virginia have ruled against the law, a cornerstone of Obama’s domestic agenda, judges in several other states have dismissed challenges. The case is expected to eventually reach the U.S. Supreme Court.
Thanks for your posts, xsm:)
No the story is a little wrong the judge said the stay was pending the 7 day apeal to an expedited ruling which is a good thing otherwise if they don’t want to go with the 7 day thing then it can’t be implemented at all.
: )
The article has been added to with more info:
U.S. District Judge Roger Vinson ruled Thursday that implementation of the health law can proceed — but he gave the Obama administration just seven days to file an appeal.
Vinson issued a stay of his own Jan. 31 ruling that declared the entire health care reform law unconstitutional. He chastised the government for not interpreting that ruling as an immediate injunction to stop implementing the new law.
But in a twist, he said he interpreted the Justice Department’s request for clarity as a motion to stay, which he granted.
“Because the defendants have stated that they intend to file a subsequent motion to stay if I were to ‘clarify’ that I had intended my declaratory judgment to have immediate injunction-like effect (which I just did), I will save time in this time-is-of-the-essence case by treating the motion to clarify as one requesting a stay as well,” Vinson said.
Vinson criticized the Justice Department for not following normal procedure and requesting a stay.
“It was not expected that they would effectively ignore the order and declaratory judgment for two and one-half weeks, continue to implement the Act, and only then file a belated motion to ‘clarify,’” Vinson wrote.
Vinson is trying to push the government into quickly resolving the case, requiring them to file an expedited appeal to the 11th Circuit or Supreme Court. In his ruling, Vinson repeated what he has said previously — that “the citizens of this country have an interest in having this case resolved as soon as practically possible.”
“That was nearly eleven months ago,” he wrote. “In the time since, the battle lines have been drawn, the relevant case law marshaled, and the legal arguments refined. Almost everyone agrees that the constitutionality of the Act is an issue that will ultimately have to be decided by the Supreme Court of the United States. It is very important to everyone in this country that this case move forward.”
Vinson’s actions mean the legal cloud over nationwide efforts to implement the law’s varied and complex requirements — from the establishment of state health exchanges to plans for Medicaid expansion and a new wave of consumer protections in the insurance market — is likely to remain for a while.
The administration has said it would press on with implementation, but two states — Florida and Alaska — have halted plans to do so, citing Vinson’s ruling. Others have moved ahead more cautiously or expressed concerns about the legal uncertainty.
Vinson walked a tightrope in his January ruling between not issuing an injunction — which has a very high legal bar, particularly for it to apply to the entire law — and achieving the results of an injunction. It’s rare for a district court judge to bar enforcement of a federal law.
The case before Vinson has the highest profile of several lawsuits against the health care overhaul. The suit was brought by 26 states and the National Federation of Independent Business, and Vinson is the only judge to throw out the entire law.
A federal judge in Virginia ruled the law’s requirement that individuals buy health insurance unconstitutional, but upheld the rest. Three other judges have upheld the entire law.
Several other challenges have been thrown out on procedural grounds.
The rulings have taken on a partisan tone: The two district court judges who ruled against the law are Republican nominees and the three who have ruled in its favor are Democratic ones.
That is exacty what the attorneys on FoxNews just said this is not want the DOJ wanted and now that they asked for this they got much more than they wanted.This is a good thing for our side.
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