Obama forced to defend health law constitutionality

The Obama administration bowed to the conditions that federal Judge Roger Vinson placed upon it when he provided a stay to his finding that the healthcare law was unconstitutional.

Vinson put two stipulations on his stay (which allows the administration to continue writing regulations on the law, which otherwise would be defunct). The first was that the administration file an appeal of his original ruling of unconstitutionality within seven calendar days, and the second was that the appeal pursue an expedited process to the Supreme Court.

Six days later, Obama’s legal team filed its appeal.

Contrast this response to the one it has offered Louisiana federal Judge Martin Feldman, who was forced to hold the administration in contempt of court for its failure to follow his order to reopen the Gulf to offshore drilling and allow the region to get back to work.

Vinson, in light of the administration’s proven willingness to ignore a federal court ruling when it suited it, smartly tied the carrot of keeping the stay of his previous ruling that the law was unconstitutional and could not be implemented in exchange for rapid movement by the administration to get final determination of the constitutional question.

This truly brilliant move will hopefully lead to a Supreme Court ruling on the constitutionality of the law before the next presidential election and before regulators irreversibly harm the private healthcare provider system through implementation of the current law.

Now, that is truly in the interests of the entire nation, and Judge Vinson deserves the nation’s gratitude for forcing this issue to a head.