[JURIST] The US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit [official website] on Friday granted [order, PDF] the Obama administration’s motion for expedited review [text, PDF] over a Florida judge’s ruling that the health care reform law [HR 3590 materials; JURIST news archive] is unconstitutional. The appeals court has yet not made a decision regarding the request that the initial review be heard en banc [SCOTUSblog report] before all 10 judges. Last Friday, Judge Roger Vinson stayed his ruling finding that the health care law was unconstitutional [JURIST reports] on the condition that an appeal would be filed within a week. The stay has allowed the administration to continue its implementation of the law in other states until after appellate review. Also on Friday, the 26 states that won before Vinson filed a notice of cross appeal [notice, PDF], appealing the “adverse disposition of claims.”

The health care reform law is the subject of numerous legal challenges across the country. Last month, Virginia Attorney General Kenneth Cuccinelli [official website] filed a petition for a writ of certiorari [JURIST report] with the US Supreme Court [JURIST news archive] asking the court to rule on the constitutionality of the law on an expedited basis, before the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit [official website] rules on the issue. In January, a judge for the US District Court for the Western District of Virginia dismissed a lawsuit [JURIST report] challenging a provision of the health care reform law. In October, a federal judge in Michigan ruled that the law is constitutional [JURIST report] under the Commerce Clause as it addresses the economic effects of health care decisions, and that it does not represent an unconstitutional direct tax.