On Monday, the United States Supreme Court denied the Virginia Attorney General’s attempt to fast track the review of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (the “Act”). The Virginia Attorney General, Kenneth T. Cuccinelli II (R), filed the petition on February 8, 2011, asking the Supreme Court to hear by direct appeal an appeal of the decision made by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, declaring the individual mandate provision of the Act unconstitutional.

In a highly publicized decision, on December 13, 2010, Judge Henry Hudson of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia declared the individual mandate of the Act unconstitutional but still allowed implementation of the law, becoming the first federal judge to rule against the Act. The United States government has appealed Judge Hudson’s ruling to the 4th Circuit, and the appeal is scheduled to be heard between May 10 and May 13, 2011.