Obama Administration Answers First Lawsuit Challenging Health Reform

Answering the first lawsuit on the health reform law, which challenges the mandate to buy health insurance, the U.S. Justice Department argued that the suit has no standing because the mandate does not take effect until 2014, according to a report by Main Justice.

Plaintiffs at the Thomas More Law Center in Michigan "bring this suit four years before the provision they challenge takes effect, demonstrate no current injury and merely speculate whether the law will harm them once it is in force,” Department of Justice lawyers wrote in a response filed with the U.S. District Court in Michigan.

On Friday, seven additional states plan to join a federal lawsuit challenging the reform law, filed by 13 states in Florida. In addition, the Attorney General of Virginia has also filed his own lawsuit against the mandate.

Read Main Justice's report on the first suit against the insurance mandate.

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