The U.S. Supreme Court has apparently put off a decision on whether to hear Virginia's legal challenge to President Barack Obama's health-care legislation.
Virginia's case, filed by Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli and dismissed by the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals this fall, was scheduled to be discussed by the high court at its Nov. 22 scheduling conference.
But in orders issued by the court on Monday after the conference, there was no citation of the state's case or disposition of its petition for Supreme Court review.
While the court can decide later whether to hear the case, its decision not to do so at this time suggests that it may wait until it resolves other cases it has agreed to hear on the health-care issue, said Kevin Walsh, a professor at the University of Richmond's T.C. Williams School of Law.
"The most likely explanation is that the court is holding the petition pending the disposition of the granted cases," said Walsh, a former clerk for Justice Antonin Scalia, who has written on the legal issues surrounding the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
"There is a chance that the court will relist the case at some point, which would indicate there is still the potential for a grant. But that is unlikely," Walsh added.
"As a practical matter, the case is probably on ice while the granted cases play out."
A spokesman for Cuccinelli's office would not speculate on the reasoning behind the lack of a decision on Virginia's case, saying only: "The court has not yet taken any definitive action on our case."
The Supreme Court this month agreed to hear arguments on a challenge brought by Florida on behalf of 26 states, a business group and an individual.
Justice Department lawyers had petitioned the court to use the Florida case to decide the constitutionality of the act and argued that Virginia's case should be kept pending until the court resolves the Florida case.
The core argument behind the various challenges to the act is essentially the same: that the individual insurance mandate provision of the law — which would require nearly every American to purchase health insurance by 2014 or face a penalty — is unconstitutional.
A three-judge panel from the Richmond-based 4th Circuit dismissed Virginia's challenge in September, saying the state lacked the standing to challenge the constitutionality of the act. The panel dismissed the argument that a Virginia law prohibiting insurance mandates gave the state standing to pursue a challenge to the federal law.
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