The judge specifically ruled that the mandate - where the law requires people to either buy Obamacare or pay a fine - is unconstitutional. He did not make a rulings on the rest of Obamacare.
But that's fine. The mandate is what makes the whole thing possible. And with that gone, the entire things will collapse like the House of Cards it is.
Very few Americans want to sign up for this monstrosity - only people with chronic conditions etc. In other words, people virtually guaranteed to take more out of the system than they put in. With the mandate gone, those are the only people who will sign up... and it will quickly collapse like a rowboat when a whale jumps into (onto) it.
The socialists will of course appeal the ruling, and go all the way to the Supreme Court. That would happen no matter which way the ruling goes. But now, when the Supremes get it, the question they are required to answer is, "Is there good enough reason to overrule and reverse the District Judge's ruling, or not? Did the District Court err in this ruling, or did they rule according to law and the Constitution?"
The socialists are going to have a tough time trying to persuade Thomas, Scalia, Alito, Roberts, and Kennedy that the Constitution says the Fed Govt can force Americans to buy something they don't want.
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http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-12-13/u-s-health-care-law-requirement-thrown-out-by-judge.html
U.S. Health-Care Law Requirement Thrown Out by Judge (Update2)
By Tom Schoenberg and Margaret Cronin Fisk - Dec 13, 2010 9:39 AM PT Tweet inShare.4More
Business ExchangeBuzz up!DiggPrint Email . U.S. President Barack Obama. Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg
Play VideoDec. 13 (Bloomberg) -- The Obama administration’s requirement that most citizens maintain minimum health coverage as part of a broad overhaul of the industry is unconstitutional because it forces people to buy insurance, a federal judge ruled, striking down the linchpin of the president’s plan. Bloomberg's Megan Hughes talks with Tom Keene on Bloomberg Television's "Surveillance Midday." (Source: Bloomberg)
The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia in Richmond, Virginia. Photographer: Jay Paul/Bloomberg
The Obama administration’s requirement that most citizens maintain minimum health coverage as part of a broad overhaul of the industry is unconstitutional because it forces people to buy insurance, a federal judge ruled, striking down the linchpin of the president’s plan.
U.S. District Judge Henry Hudson in Richmond, Virginia, said today that the requirement in President Barack Obama’s health-care legislation goes beyond Congress’s powers to regulate interstate commerce. While severing the coverage mandate, Hudson didn’t address other provisions such as expanding Medicaid that are unrelated to it. He didn’t order the government to stop work on putting the remainder of the law into effect.
Hudson found the minimum essential coverage provision of the act “exceeds the constitutional boundaries of congressional power.” Hudson was appointed by President George W. Bush in 2002.
The decision left intact other provisions of the law and only affects the part that requires most U.S. citizens to maintain minimum health coverage beginning in 2014.
