Governor Jan Brewer called today's appeals court shoot-down of Obama's mandatory health care plan a "major triumph."
Arizona was one was 26 states that sued the federal government over the highly contested, Democrat-launched plan to force nearly every American to buy health insurance. The stipulation was crucial to the plan since millions of healthy people need to be enrolled payers in order to pay the massive cost of covering the whole country.
In January, U.S. District Judge Roger Vinson from Florida struck down the "individual mandate" and other portions of the health care law, which was signed by President Obama in 2010.
Today, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals on a 2-1 vote upheld Vinson's ruling on the forced-purchase rule.
"It cannot be denied that the individual mandate is an unprecedented exercise of congressional power," wrote Chief Judge Joel Dubina and Circuit Judge Frank Hull in their 304-page opinion, noting that never before have Americans been required to buy something as a "condition of lawful residence."
"Today's decision is a victory for federalism and individual liberty," Brewer said in a written statement. "This decision represents a major triumph for the people of Arizona and the other 25 states that have joined together in challenging ObamaCare."
The 11th Circuit Court allowed other parts of the law to stay.
In a separate statement, state Attorney General Tom Horne said he was confident that the lawsuit by 26 states would be prevail if and when Obama appeals today's ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court.
