December 14, 2010: A Virginia federal district court judge ruled yesterday that Section 1501 of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) exceeds the constitutional power of Congress.
Section 1501—also known as the coverage mandate—requires that almost every U.S. citizen carry a minimum level of health insurance coverage beginning in 2014. The federal judge ruled that this provision oversteps the boundaries of congressional power under the Constitution’s commerce clause. The judge declined, however, to issue an injunction against the legislation as a whole, overruling only the coverage mandate.
While there have been numerous legal challenges to the ACA’s individual mandate on constitutional grounds, this is the first case to receive a ruling against the mandate, setting in motion an appeals process that is expected to go to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Click here to access the text of the Virginia federal court’s ruling.