Florida judge, a Reagan appointee, rules that health care law is unconstitutional, says entire act must be declared void

This news is just breaking, I’m getting a ton of email alerts:

A Florida judge could on Monday become the second U.S. judge to declare President Barack Obama’s healthcare reform law unconstitutional, in the biggest legal challenge yet to federal authority to enact the law. [...]

Vinson has suggested strongly that he too will rule the individual mandate oversteps constitutional limits on federal authority. He may also move to invalidate the entire law, by granting the plaintiff states’ request for an injunction to halt its implementation. [...]

The 70-year-old appointee of President Ronald Reagan even noted that he himself had been uninsured, paying out of pocket when the first of his five children was born.

Vinson’s comments did not necessarily conclusively signal how he might rule on the full merits of the case.

He has also shown little sympathy for the plaintiffs’ secondary argument for striking down the reform law, on the grounds that it violates state sovereignty by imposing a vast expansion of Medicaid, the federal-state program that provides healthcare for the poor and disabled.

The government will appeal, per MSNBC just now. This will end up in the Supreme Court, per just about everyone, because Congress will not end up agreeing to repeal the current law.

UPDATE: The judge who overturned the law lets it stay in effect during appeal, which could take 2 years.