(Image source: Madame Noir)

BY VICTORIA CRAIG

Another court has dismissed a challenge against the Affordable Health Care Act. Thursday-- the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Virginia has no case for suing the government over the health care plan. 

The Washington Post reports, Virginia’s Attorney General...

“...argued that Virginia and its residents would be harmed because the federal mandate would obliterate the Virginia Health Care Freedom Act (VHCFA). The act says no resident of Virginia ‘shall be required to obtain or maintain a policy of individual insurance coverage.’” 

But according to The Wall Street Journal’s Jess Bravin-- the court determined the AG’s argument had no legal standing.

“The issue here is that in order to go to court, you have to have an injury. In other words, you’ve got to be able to say, ‘The defendant did something to me or is violating my rights.’ The issue here is that the defendant, in this case, the US government, didn’t do anything to Virginia. In other words, it wasn’t making Virginia take any steps or do anything. Virginia’s only interest was protecting it’s own residents’ rights against a policy of the federal government.”  

Andrew Cohen writes for the Atlantic, this is a double win for the President, noting that not only did the three-judge panel dismiss the challenges to the law...

“...But it did so on jurisdictional grounds, which means the justices of the United States Supreme Court now may have other viable legal options available to them next year should they wish to avoid resolving this battle on the merits.”

But a Fox News reporter counters- saying the decision may actually be a win for opponents of the law.

“The 4th circuit today never actually got to the question of whether or not the individual mandate is constitutional. It simply ruled today that two different lawsuits, one involving the state of Virginia and one involving Liberty University, would be tossed out because those parties lacked standing.” 

As The Hill explains-- the legal future of the law is blurred because there’s been a mixed bag of court opinions on the constitutionality of the individual mandate.

“The 6th Circuit upheld the requirement in a June decision, while the 11th Circuit - which heard the high-profile challenge filed by 26 state attorneys general — ruled the mandate is unconstitutional. Those 26 states didn’t use the same argument as [Virginia’s AG], so they’re likely unfazed by the 4th Circuit’s decision in that case.”

According to The Hill, legal analysts expect the Supreme Court to take up the case early next year.