Obama Health-Care Law Ruling to Be Appealed by U.S.

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Obama Health-Care Law Ruling to Be Appealed by U.S.

December 14, 2010, 2:06 PM EST

By Blum

(Updates with comment from Justice Department in fourth paragraph.)

Dec. 14 (Bloomberg) -- The Justice Department said it plans to appeal a federal

judge's ruling yesterday declaring part of President Barack Obama's health-care

overhaul unconstitutional.

U.S. District Judge Henry Hudson in Richmond, Virginia, said that the law

improperly requires Americans to maintain a minimum level of health insurance,

going beyond Congress's powers to regulate interstate commerce. The judge left

the rest of the law intact.

Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, who brought the suit, had suggested

the possibility of a direct appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. The Justice

Department today rejected that approach and said the case should first be heard

by an appeals court in Richmond.

" The department believes this case should follow the ordinary course of allowing

the courts of appeals to hear it first so the issues and arguments can be fully

developed before the Supreme Court decides whether to consider it, " said

Schmaler, a Justice Department spokeswoman, in an e-mail.

The ruling is the government's first loss in a series of challenges to the law

in federal courts in Virginia, Michigan and Florida, where 20 states have joined

an effort to have the statute thrown out. Constitutional scholars said unless

Congress changes the law, its fate on appeal will probably be determined by the

U.S. Supreme Court.

--With assistance from Greg Stohr and Tom Schoenberg in Washington. Editors: Jim

Rubin, Laurie Asseo.