Virginia Health Care Reform Lawsuit Gets First Test Today

Back in early August, a federal judge said that the State of Virginia could move forward in its litigation efforts to block health care reform. Today, Judge Henry Hudson is expected to make his ruling.

What does this mean? In my opinion, probably not much, unless Hudson rules against Virginia. Hudson is a conservative Republican appointee. Perhaps best known for being the judge in the Michael Vick dogfighting case, Hudson was appointed to the bench for the Northern District of Virginia by President George W. Bush. Most pundits believe that Hudson will be the first federal judge to rule against Health Care Reform. If he does, the case will move on to the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals. If he rules that Health Care Reform is, in fact, constitutional, this will be a major blow to opponents of the law.

This observer thinks that Hudson will 'overturn' Health Care Reform, and there is a real possibility that the 4th Circuit will agree with him at which point the case would likely end up in front of the US Supreme Court. What will the Court's make-up be then? How will it rule?

We wait and see, but for now, the first test will be passed or failed with Hudson's decision later today.