Federal judge in Florida allows part of suit against health reform law to proceed

"A federal judge says some parts of a lawsuit by 20 states challenging the Obama administration's health care overhaul as unconstitutional can go to trial," The Associated Press reports. "District Judge Roger Vinson ruled Thursday in Pensacola, Fla., that some parts of the lawsuit need to be heard. The administration had asked him to dismiss the entire lawsuit, which was spearheaded by Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum," a Republican (Nelson, 10/14).

The Hill: The judge said "two of those six counts can proceed. Aside from the count targeting the individual insurance requirement, Vinson said a constitutional challenge to the law's Medicaid expansion — which critics consider an unfunded mandate for states — can also move forward. Last week, a Detroit-based federal judge tossed out a similar challenge to the individual mandate" (Lillis, 10/14).

Politico reports on the specifics: "The charges that survive: That 'the individual mandate and concomitant penalty exceed Congress's authority under the Commerce Clause and violate the Ninth and Tenth Amendments'; and 'the Act coerces and commandeers the states with respect to Medicaid by altering and expanding the program in violation of Article I and the Ninth and Tenth Amendments.'"

"Vinson rejected other claims, including the notion that the penalty associated with the mandate is a 'direct tax'" (Smith, 10/14). 

The Wall Street Journal: "The case will now proceed for further pre-trial legal arguments. ... The suit is the most prominent of several legal challenges to the law" (Kendall, 10/14).