Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli took the state's battle against President Obama's health care reform to the Supreme Court Friday.
Cuccinelli announced that he had appealed the state's lawsuit to the nation's highest court — a move widely expected after a circuit court in Alexandria composed of Democratic appointees dismissed the lawsuit, ruling that Virginia did not even have the standing to sue.
Cuccinelli urged the Supreme Court to take up the case because of the controversial issue of the state's standing, as well as the state's argument that the federal government cannot make individuals purchase health insurance.
"The Founding Fathers fully intended that the states would serve as a check on federal power. When the Fourth Circuit ruled that Virginia lacked the standing to defend a duly enacted state law from federal preemption, it took away much of the states' ability to serve that function," Cuccinelli said in a statement.
Judicial decisions on the health care law have been mixed. A court in Cincinnatti upheld the law, but another in Atlanta struck it down. The conflict makes it likely that the Supreme Court will take up the issue sometime in the next year.
