NEWS FLASH

Judge Reinstates Health Care Challenge, But Expresses No Opinion On The Merits | Earlier this year, George W. Bush-appointed Judge Keith Starrett tossed out a challenge to the Affordable Care Act on the grounds that the plaintiffs lacked standing. Judge Starrett has now reinstated that case after the plaintiffs amended their legal filings to correct this problem. Starrett’s order says nothing about the merits of the case — it is limited solely to procedural issues. Nevertheless, the lawsuit’s plaintiffs, which include Mississippi’s lieutenant governor and a state senator, are already misrepresenting this purely procedural order as “the third major blow to Obama Care in the last three weeks.” Presumably the first “blow” is the Eleventh Circuit’s divided decision striking down part of the law. It is unclear what on earth the second could be.