Supreme Court rejects Virginia's request to fast track health reform challenge

The Supreme Court will not take up Virginia's challenge to the Affordable Care Act, so the challenge will have to proceed through the normal federal appeals process.

Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli asked the court to let the state bypass the normal federal appeals process and take the case directly to the justices. While the court's rules allow for this, such a rapid review is granted only very rarely. The Justice Department opposed the request to put the case on a fast track.

The court's decision means the issue will continue working its way through the federal appeals courts. Several cases are pending, including challenges to the law from Virginia, Florida, and 25 other states.

They claim that the centerpiece of the law -- requiring virtually all Americans to buy health insurance -- is unconstitutional. Two federal judges, in Virginia and Florida, have agreed with the states.

Three other judges, also in Virginia and in Michigan and Washington, DC, have found the law constitutional.

According to this report, no justice was recused, so when the case eventually wends its way to the SCOTUS, all nine justices will hear it. Conservative groups have pushed for Justice Kagan to recuse herself, since she was solicitor general when the law was passed and the challenge filed.