Virginia Healthcare Challenge to Proceed

The first shots in America’s Healthcare Civil War were fired today as a federal judge shot down the Government’s attempts to dismiss Virginia’s challenge to the Individual Mandate.

A judge ruled on Monday that the state of Virginia could proceed with its challenge to President Barack Obama’s landmark healthcare law, a setback that will force the White House to defend its reforms in the middle of a tough congressional election campaign.

In the opening salvo of the legal fight, U.S. District Judge Henry Hudson refused to dismiss the state’s lawsuit, which argued the requirement that its residents have health insurance was unconstitutional.

In an attempt to win the war over public perception, a worried White House was quick to respond;

This morning, a federal district court in Virginia issued a procedural decision to allow a suit filed by Virginia’s Attorney General to move forward.   The court did not, however, rule on the merits of Virginia Attorney General’s claim that the Affordable Care Act is unconstitutional.

Twenty other states have sued either this portions or other aspects of the federal healthcare Law.  The judge’s decision all but assures that most of the suits will all advance to the next stage in the legal process.

As political civil wars go, this one is expected to be long, drawn out with many ebbs, flows  and casualties along the way.