---
title: "Psych News Alert: Appeals Court Rejects Challenge to Health Care Reform Law"
description: The U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals yesterday rejected a lawsuit by Virginia’s attorney general challenging the 2010 health care reform la...
image: https://alert.psychnews.org/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/AppealsCourt4th_54826123-Jun-24-2025-03-39-39-6934-PM.jpg
---

 6/24/24 11:16 AM

# Appeals Court Rejects Challenge to Health Care Reform Law

![Picture of Psychiatric News Alert](https://alert.psychnews.org/hs-fs/hubfs/Psych%20News%20Email%20Banners/PN-Blue-Box_rgb.png?width=50&name=PN-Blue-Box_rgb.png) [ Psychiatric News Alert ](https://alert.psychnews.org/author/psychiatric-news-alert)

Share: [facebook-f icon ](http://www.facebook.com/share.php?u=https://alert.psychnews.org/2011/09/appeals-court-rejects-challenge-to.html) [linkedin-in icon ](http://www.linkedin.com/shareArticle?mini=true&url=https://alert.psychnews.org/2011/09/appeals-court-rejects-challenge-to.html) [Twitter icon ](https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?url=https://alert.psychnews.org/2011/09/appeals-court-rejects-challenge-to.html) [pinterest-p icon ](http://pinterest.com/pin/create/link/?url=https://alert.psychnews.org/2011/09/appeals-court-rejects-challenge-to.html) [envelope icon ](mailto:?body=https://alert.psychnews.org/2011/09/appeals-court-rejects-challenge-to.html)

[![](https://alert.psychnews.org/hs-fs/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/AppealsCourt4th_54826123-Jun-24-2025-03-39-38-8510-PM.jpg?width=200&height=133&name=AppealsCourt4th_54826123-Jun-24-2025-03-39-38-8510-PM.jpg)](https://alert.psychnews.org/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/AppealsCourt4th_54826123-Jun-24-2025-03-39-37-8520-PM.jpg) 

The U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals yesterday rejected a lawsuit by Virginia’s attorney general challenging the 2010 health care reform law. The three-judge panel did not rule on the case's merits, but instead said that the state lacked standing to bring suit since it hadn't been harmed by the law.

Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli (R) had argued that the Affordable Care Act violated a state law enacted specifically to block the federal health reform law and signed the day after the health reform law was signed.

“If we were to adopt Virginia’s standing theory, each state could become a roving constitutional watchdog of sorts; no issue, no matter how generalized or quintessentially political, would fall beyond a state’s power to litigate in federal court,” said Judge Diana Gribbon Motz. The court also rejected a  separate suit against the reform law by Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va. In that case, the court ruled that the penalty the law requires of individuals who don’t buy health insurance was equivalent to a tax. It said a tax cannot be challenged in court before it is collected.

To read about the outcome of other legal challenges to the health care law, see *Psychiatric News* at [http://pn.psychiatryonline.org/content/46/10/17.1.full](http://pn.psychiatryonline.org/content/46/10/17.1.full).

(Photo: Shutterstock)

[health care reform](https://alert.psychnews.org/tag/health-care-reform), [health insurance](https://alert.psychnews.org/tag/health-insurance), [Affordable Care Act](https://alert.psychnews.org/tag/affordable-care-act), [federal appeals court](https://alert.psychnews.org/tag/federal-appeals-court)

## Related posts

[![](https://alert.psychnews.org/hs-fs/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/s_court-Jun-24-2025-07-47-02-8674-PM.gif?height=200&name=s_court-Jun-24-2025-07-47-02-8674-PM.gif) ](https://alert.psychnews.org/2011/04/supreme-court-declines-to-hear-virginia.html)

[health care reform](https://alert.psychnews.org/tag/health-care-reform), [Supreme Court](https://alert.psychnews.org/tag/supreme-court), [Virginia](https://alert.psychnews.org/tag/virginia)

## [Supreme Court Declines to Hear Virginia Health Care Reform Case](https://alert.psychnews.org/2011/04/supreme-court-declines-to-hear-virginia.html)

![Picture of Psychiatric News Alert](https://alert.psychnews.org/hs-fs/hubfs/Psych%20News%20Email%20Banners/PN-Blue-Box_rgb.png?width=50&name=PN-Blue-Box_rgb.png) [Psychiatric News Alert](https://alert.psychnews.org/author/psychiatric-news-alert) 

 4/25/11 12:00 AM

Credit: DHuss/istockphoto The United States Supreme Court today rejected a call from Virginia’s...

[ Read more ](https://alert.psychnews.org/2011/04/supreme-court-declines-to-hear-virginia.html)

[![](https://alert.psychnews.org/hs-fs/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/s4s-ken-headshot-Jun-24-2025-04-45-44-9268-PM.jpg?height=200&name=s4s-ken-headshot-Jun-24-2025-04-45-44-9268-PM.jpg) ](https://alert.psychnews.org/2014/03/risk-factors-for-development-of-major.html)

[depression](https://alert.psychnews.org/tag/depression), [twins](https://alert.psychnews.org/tag/twins)

## [Risk Factors for Development of Major Depression Differ Among Genders, Study Reports](https://alert.psychnews.org/2014/03/risk-factors-for-development-of-major.html)

![Picture of Psychiatric News Alert](https://alert.psychnews.org/hs-fs/hubfs/Psych%20News%20Email%20Banners/PN-Blue-Box_rgb.png?width=50&name=PN-Blue-Box_rgb.png) [Psychiatric News Alert](https://alert.psychnews.org/author/psychiatric-news-alert) 

 3/6/14 12:00 AM

Kenneth Kendler, M.D., a professor in the departments of Psychiatry and Human and Molecular...

[ Read more ](https://alert.psychnews.org/2014/03/risk-factors-for-development-of-major.html)

[![](https://alert.psychnews.org/hs-fs/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/shutterstock_62890297-2.jpg?height=200&name=shutterstock_62890297-2.jpg) ](https://alert.psychnews.org/2012/07/republicans-vow-to-repeal-health-care.html)

[Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act](https://alert.psychnews.org/tag/patient-protection-and-affordable-care-act), [health care reform law](https://alert.psychnews.org/tag/health-care-reform-law)

## [Republicans Vow to Repeal Health Care Reform Law](https://alert.psychnews.org/2012/07/republicans-vow-to-repeal-health-care.html)

![Picture of Psychiatric News Alert](https://alert.psychnews.org/hs-fs/hubfs/Psych%20News%20Email%20Banners/PN-Blue-Box_rgb.png?width=50&name=PN-Blue-Box_rgb.png) [Psychiatric News Alert](https://alert.psychnews.org/author/psychiatric-news-alert) 

 7/6/12 12:00 AM

House Republicans are moving forward with plans for a new attempt to repeal President Obama's...

[ Read more ](https://alert.psychnews.org/2012/07/republicans-vow-to-repeal-health-care.html)

```json
{
  "@context" : "https://schema.org",
  "@type" : "BlogPosting",
  "author" : {
    "@type" : "Person",
    "name" : "Psychiatric News Alert",
    "url" : "https://alert.psychnews.org/author/psychiatric-news-alert"
  },
  "dateModified" : "2025-06-24T15:43:37.296Z",
  "datePublished" : "2024-06-24T15:16:15.000Z",
  "headline" : "Psych News Alert: Appeals Court Rejects Challenge to Health Care Reform Law",
  "image" : [ "https://alert.psychnews.org/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/AppealsCourt4th_54826123-Jun-24-2025-03-39-39-6934-PM.jpg" ],
  "mainEntityOfPage" : {
    "@id" : "https://alert.psychnews.org/2011/09/appeals-court-rejects-challenge-to.html",
    "@type" : "WebPage"
  },
  "publisher" : {
    "@type" : "Organization",
    "logo" : {
      "@type" : "ImageObject",
      "url" : "https://alert.psychnews.org/hubfs/PN-Blue-Box.jpg"
    }
  }
}
```