TALLAHASSEE (CBS4) – Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi has asked the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals for an expedited, full-court hearing of the state’s lawsuit against the federal healthcare reform package.
Bondi’s request for the full-court hearing would replace the typical three-judge panel that initially hears appeals to the 11th Circuit Court.
“This case is so significant to all Americans that it needs to be resolved as quickly as possible,” Bondi said. “If granted, the petition would allow a faster track to the Supreme Court.”
The lawsuit is over the individual mandate portion of the health care reform package passed by Congress and signed into law by President Barack Obama. States objected to the notion that Americans would be forced to buy health care or face fines.
The federal government said the mandate was legal because health insurance is interstate commerce and the federal government has the right to regulate commerce through the Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution.
So far, at least three courts have upheld the health care reform as constitutionally legal while two other courts have invalidated either parts or the entire law.
