The U.S. Supreme Court has refused to jump into the controversial national debate over health care reform at this stage, rejecting a plea from Virginia for a judicial end-around -- an expedited review over whether the sweeping federal law is constitutional.
As expected, the justices without comment on Monday declined the state's "petition for certiorari before judgment."
Various state and private challenges to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act are now before federal appeals courts across the United States -- meaning it could take several months, at least, before they would go to the U.S. Supreme Court. Unusual requests such as Virginia's, to have its appeal move to the head of the line, rarely succeed since the justices traditionally like to have these kind of petitions fully analyzed and decided by lower courts before tackling them.
