Weigel: Reporting about politics and policy

Health Care Reform Struck Down in Florida District Court

The decision is out now, and Judge Roger Vinson has basically struck down the entire health care bill. I'll post the decision when I get it.

The money graf, in which Vinson strikes down the entire law -- which, because of the mess in the Senate and House, lacked severability:

Because the individual mandate is unconstitutional and not severable, the entire Act must be declared void. This has been a difficult decision to reach, and I am aware that it will have indeterminable implications. At a time when there is virtually unanimous agreement that health care reform is needed in this country, it is hard to invalidate and strike down a statute titled "The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act."

UPDATE: The decision is below, but here's more of Vinson's thinking.

It is difficult to imagine that a nation which began, at least in part, as the result of opposition to a British mandate giving the East India Company a monopoly and imposing a nominal tax on all tea sold in America would have set out to create a government with the power to force people to buy tea in the first place.

Vinson opinion