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Decision of a Virginia judge is the first major legal challenge to the president's administration
Barack Obama suffered a fresh setback today when part of his healthcare reform, his main domestic achievement, was ruled unconstitutional.
A judge in Virginia, Henry Hudson, issued a 42-page ruling saying the legislation "exceeds the constitutional boundaries of Congressional power".
Although the ruling relates to only one part of the law – the imposition of a penalty on members of the public who refuse to buy health insurance – it will tangle up the Obama administration in the courts and energise opponents of the reform.
The White House insisted that the legislation passed in March is constitutional and the ruling will not create uncertainty. The justice department is reviewing the ruling and an appeal is almost certain.
Hudson acknowledged the ruling would go to a higher court, but it could take up to two years before it lands in the supreme court.
The Virginia court is the first in the US to rule the legislation unconstitutional and it is the first successful major legal challenge to the Obama administration.
There are at least a score of other legal challenges pending across the country.
Nancy-Ann Deparle, director of health reform at the White House, said: "I am confident we will prevail in the end." She pointed out that two earlier court challenges had seen judges rule that the healthcare legislation is in fact constitutional.
The court decision comes after weeks of bad news that have shaken the Obama presidency, from the Democratic mauling in the Congressional mid-term elections last month to a rise in unemployment and battles with Congress to get legislation passed.
Many Americans have no health coverage and Obama's reforms of the system, which he made the main plank of his 2008 election campaign, will extend coverage to include 30 million more Americans. It is not scheduled to come into effect until 2014.
But Hudson, who was appointed by George W Bush, the former president, ruled that Congress had exceeded its powers by introducing a penalty for members of the public who refused to buy health insurance.
In the key passage, he said neither the supreme court nor a federal circuit court of appeals had given Congress the power "to compel an individual to involuntarily enter the stream of commerce by purchasing a commodity in the private market".
Although Hudson did not rule against the rest of the legislation, his decision will complicate its implementation.
While the new reform is not due to start until 2014, work on preparing for it will have to be under way in earnest long before then.
Hudson was ruling on a case brought by the Republican attorney-general for Virginia, Ken Cuccinelli, who filed in March when the bill was passed.
"This won't be the final round, as this will ultimately be decided by the supreme court, but today is a critical milestone in the protection of the constitution," Cuccinelli said .Another challenge, a collective one of behalf of many states, is to be heard in Florida on Thursday before Judge Roger Vinson, of Pensacola, who has expressed reservations about the penalties for failure to buy health insurance.
Healthcare has become a touchstone for Republicans and Democrats, with the former committed to scrapping it, and this will be one of the key issues in the 2012 presidential election.
Ethan Rome, executive director of Health Care for America Now, said: "We think that is wrong on the merits and bad for people's health. If his decision is upheld, it would give the green light for insurance companies to deny people care based on pre-existing conditions. Putting insurance companies back in charge of our health care is the wrong way to go."
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