Appeals court in Va. hears health care cases

RICHMOND, Va. — A federal appeals panel dominated by appointees of President Barack Obama heard arguments Tuesday in two Virginia lawsuits challenging his health care overhaul.

The three-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals vigorously questioned lawyers on both sides, but the most spirited exchanges focused on the central issue in both cases: whether the law's requirement that individuals buy insurance is constitutional. Federal judges in Virginia split on that question in the lawsuits, one filed by Virginia Attorney General Kenneth Cuccinelli and the other by Liberty University.

The 14-member court uses a computer program to randomly select its panels, and Obama could hardly have wished for a better outcome. He appointed two of the judges, Andre M. Davis and James A. Wynn Jr. The other was Judge Diana Gribbon Motz, an appointee of former President Bill Clinton.

"They were aggressive in both directions for both sides, so I don't draw any great concern about that," Cuccinelli said at a news conference after the hearings.

The Richmond-based 4th Circuit has historically been viewed as the nation's most conservative appeals court, but recent Democratic appointments have steered it more toward the ideological center — a trend that was in evidence in the packed courtroom Tuesday.

"This was certainly a favorable draw for the government," said Kevin Walsh, an assistant professor of law at the University of Richmond who attended the hearings. "All three judges appeared more skeptical of the challengers' argument and more accepting of the federal government's."

Liberty attorney Mathew Staver, like Cuccinelli, downplayed the makeup of the panel.

"I don't think it should matter at the end of the day whether they are appointed by Republicans or Democrats, conservative or liberal," he said. "There is no case in our history that forces a person to buy a product, and that's the question they're going to have to wrestle with."

Thirty-one lawsuits have been filed challenging the law, and nine of those have been appealed, but the two Virginia cases are the first to reach the argument stage in a federal appeals court. The judges are expected to rule within a few weeks.