This case is a little different than the VA decision from last month where the individual mandate was declared unconstitutional. The Florida case involves a suit brought by 26 governors about the mandate but they are also seeking injunctive relief.
Reuters is reporting that the decision is expected today:
No specific time has been given for Vinson's ruling, which was unlikely to end the legal wrangling over the contentious reform law, which could well reach the U.S. Supreme Court. But an aide said he was determined to issue his opinion in the course of Monday on the suit filed on March 23, 2010, just hours after Obama signed the reform into law.
[...]
Vinson has suggested strongly that he too will rule the individual mandate oversteps constitutional limits on federal authority. He may also move to invalidate the entire law, by granting the plaintiff states' request for an injunction to halt its implementation. "The power that the individual mandate seeks to harness is simply without prior precedent," Vinson wrote in an earlier opinion in October.
If Vinson issues an injunction against Obamacare, the vital portions of the law will not be implemented until, as expected, the case is decided by the Supreme Court (the government may ask another judge to lift any injunction but that is not easily done).
The fact that there is so much opposition to this law across the country makes it easier for judges to rule that the mandate is unconstitutional. Most federal judges read the polls as much as politicians so the tide may be going our way at this point.
Hat Tip: Clarice Feldman
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