Litigation

Federal Judge Dimisses Health Care Law Challenge

By Peter Hardin

U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler in Washington, D.C. has thrown out a lawsuit saying that President Obama’s health care overhaul violated Americans’ religious freedom.

The American Center for Law Justice, founded by Pat Robertson, brought the lawsuit. It contended the new health care law, and its provision requiring citizens to buy health insurance or pay a penalty, violated the religious freedom of those who count on God to protect them, the Associated Press reported.

Judge Kessler is the third federal judge appointed by a Democratic president to reject a challenge to the law. Two Republican-appointed federal judges have declared all or part of it unconstitutional, and a showdown over the statute before the Supreme Court is expected (see Gavel Grab for background).

Full post as published by The Gavel on February 23, 2011 (boomark / email).