Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli issued the following statement in reaction to the United States Supreme Court’s decision not to expedite Virginia’s lawsuit against the federal health care law and its mandate to force individuals to buy health insurance:
“We asked the United States Supreme Court for expedited review of our lawsuit because Virginia and other states are already spending huge sums to implement their portions of the health care act, businesses are already making decisions about whether to cut or keep employee health plans, and citizens are in limbo until the Supreme Court rules. Asking the court to expedite our lawsuit was about removing this crippling and costly uncertainty as quickly as possible. We were gratified that both Republicans and Democrats in Virginia supported the effort to expedite. The Supreme Court rarely expedites cases under its Rule 11. Expediting our case would have been the exception and so, although disappointing, this is not surprising. “
The Attorney Generals Office will next be making arguments in the U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals on the morning of May 10th in Richmond. This case’s ultimate end point is likely the Supreme Court. “It will simply have to make its way through the Fourth Circuit first,” Cuccinelli said.