The Obama administration has asked a Florida court to hurry up and decide on its appeal of an order that declared the health care law unconstitutional.
The Justice Department filed a motion in the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals for an expedited review of the administration's appeal, filed on Tuesday.
The department says it has also sought expedited appellate review of rulings made in the 4th Circuit in Virginia and the 6th Circuit in Michigan.
U.S. District Judge Roger Vinson ruled on January 31 that the mandate requiring just about everyone to buy health insurance was unconstitutional, which made the entire law unworkable. The case was brought by 26 states.
The Obama administration asked Vinson to clarify what he meant, and he did last week, ordering a stay of his ruling and giving the government seven days to appeal. The administration did so on Tuesday afternoon.
Vinson and others agree the case is likely to end up at the Supreme Court.
"The sooner this issue is finally decided by the Supreme Court, the better off the entire nation will be. And yet, it has been more than one month from the entry of my order and judgment and still the defendants have not filed their notice of appeal," Vinson wrote on March 3.
Meghan McCarthy contributed
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