Legal News

Florida Challengers to Health Care Law Go, Well, Medium

By Ashby Jones

Last month, as we wrote here, The Cooch went large.

By that, of course, we mean that the Virginia Attorney General asked the U.S. Supreme Court to take an immediate appeal of his challenge to the constitutionality of the health-care law.

On Friday, the plaintiffs in another challenge– the one playing out in Florida — went medium. The plaintiffs, a group of 26 states and a business group, asked the entire Eleventh Circuit to hear the case rather than a three-judge panel.

Were the Eleventh Circuit to grant the request, the case would move into pole position as the one likely to be heard first by the U.S. Supreme Court. Click here for the request; here for the formal appeal; here for Lyle Denniston’s writeup over at Scotusblog; here for all LB coverage of the health-care challenges.

(But wait! you say. Didn’t the plaintiffs win their case at the trial court level? Indeed they mostly did (here), but it wasn’t a total win. He rejected the states’ objections to several parts of the law.)

Writes Denniston:

Calling the case "exceptional and time sensitive," the challengers said it is vital that appellate review be "by all members of this Court."  It added: "If the United States Supreme Court decides to grant certiorari, it will no doubt benefit institutionally from thorough appellate review on the matter.  Where an appeal is expedited for resolution - and time is available for en  banc hearing, as it appears fortuitously to be in this case - the Supreme Court would benefit from the full court's views."

While initial review by a three-judge panel might be sufficient under ordinary circumstance where "timing is not so critical and the issues less compelling," the challengers argued,  the ordinary process of panel review followed by requests for en banc review "is likely to prove unworkable or unpredictable given the urgency and importance of resolving the issues presented."

Ideally, it seems, the plaintiffs would like the case to be argued in early June.

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on March 11, 2011 (boomark / email).