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The Obama administration told the Supreme Court on Monday night it should stay away from a high-profile challenge to the 2010 health care law until after a lower court has had a chance to review the case. Acting Solicitor General Neal Katyal wrote, "there is no basis for short-circuiting the normal course of appellate review." Katyal also says Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli's case is problematic because he may lack sufficient standing to challenge the health care law.

Dear Friends, Today, a long, hard-fought battle for women's health and dignity has finally been won in the State Senate! Just this afternoon, the Democrat controlled Virginia State Senate passed a bill which will require abortion clinics to meet hospital-style safety standards. This will mean that any abortion clinic which performs more than 5 abortions in a month will need to meet safety standards comparable to any other clinic which performs out-patient procedures. For over 25 years, Virginia abortion clinics have not been held to minimal health and safety standards. As a result, women who walk into these clinics are...

The Virginia House of Delegates blocked an attempt last week by Democratic lawmakers to remove the attorney general’s power to issue subpoenas for academic research at state universities. The proposed bill came as a response to the ongoing investigation launched by the office of Attorney General and University alumnus Ken Cuccinelli, demanding the University surrender papers and e-mails related to the work of Michael Mann, climate scientist and former University professor in the department of environmental sciences. Cuccinelli has filed multiple civil investigative demands to review Mann’s e-mails and documents. The attorney general is accusing Mann of using manipulated or...

Victoria Cobb, President Tuesday, February 22, 2011 Victory Alert: Property Rights Amendment Passes Senate! This afternoon, the Virginia Senate passed by a 35-5 vote a proposed amendment to the Virginia Constitution that would protect private property rights and curb the government’s power of eminent domain. After four years of trying to pass this important legislation, with twists and turns, near-deaths, deaths, resurrections, and last minute defeats in previous General Assembly sessions, today's vote was deceptively overwhelming yet historic in importance. Now the resolution, HJ 693, goes back to the House of Delegates since it was changed from the version that...

Cuccinelli argues health-care suit on Capitol HillBy Jim Nolan Published: February 16, 2011 Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli this morning took his case against the new federal health care law straight to the folks who approved it less than a year ago -- Congress. But what a difference a year makes. When the landmark Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act passed in March 2010, the House of Representatives was controlled by Democrats, and no Republicans voted for the measure. Last November’s midterm elections changed that, so today Cuccinelli, a rising conservative star whose lawsuit made headlines across the nation, was at...

Tomorrow morning at 9:30AM, VA Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli will be testifying before the House Judiciary Committee on the constitutionality of the individual mandate. To watch Ken's testimony live just visit the website below tomorrow morning at 9:30! http://judiciary.house.gov/

Cuccinelli heads to Congress to discuss the constitutionality of health care reform next week Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli is heading to Congress next Wednesday to discuss the constitutionality of the "individual mandate" the linchpin of his lawsuit challenging federal health care reform. Cuccinelli and Gov. Bob McDonnell are pushing the Department of Justice to fast track Virginia's lawsuit against federal health care reform to the Supreme Court - so that folks on both sides of the debate don't have to wait around for lower court decisions when everyone has said for nearly a year that the case is going...

From NBC's Pete WilliamsWhat's the point, asks Virginia's attorney general, of letting the federal appeals courts chew over the constitutionality of the health care law when only the U.S. Supreme Court can decide whether it's willing to expand the powers of Congress?That's the question at the heart of an unusual request filed Wednesday by Virginia, asking the Supreme Court to bypass the appeals courts and take up a review of the health care law as soon as possible. The Supreme Court grants such requests exceedingly rarely, and one justice signaled just last week that she would resist such a move.The...

RICHMOND, Va. -- Virginia's attorney general has formally asked the U.S. Supreme Court to consider his challenge of a key portion of the Obama administration's health care reform law. Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli's office said Wednesday it filed a petition late Tuesday to leapfrog an appeals court review scheduled for May. Cuccinelli had announced his intention to seek the review last week.

Cuccinelli Seeking Supreme Court Review of Va. Health Care LawsuitUpdated: 11:56 AM Feb 3, 2011 Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli announced Thursday that the Commonwealth will file a petition to ask the United States Supreme Court to take Virginia's health care lawsuit now, as opposed to waiting for the case to first be decided by the court of appeals. The Petition for Certiorari Before Judgment in the United States Supreme Court in the case of Commonwealth v. Sebelius will be filed pursuant to Rule 11 of the Rules of the United States Supreme Court. **SNIP** Normally, appeals of decisions of...

Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli (R) will push to fast-track Virginia's challenge of the federal health care overhaul to the nation's highest court. Cuccinelli said the uncertainty caused by various court rulings about the constitutionality of the health care law makes expedited review a necessity. "Currently, state governments and private businesses are being forced to expend enormous amounts of resources to prepare to implement a law that, in the end, may be declared unconstitutional," he said in a statement. "Regardless of whether you believe the law is constitutional or not, we should all agree that a prompt resolution of this issue...

Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli on Monday praised a Florida federal judge's ruling that the health-care overhaul is unconstitutional, saying "liberty has scored another victory." "I am heartened by the fact that another federal judge has found that the individual mandate forcing citizens to buy private health insurance is unconstitutional," Cuccinelli said in a statement.

<p>RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Virginia would have to establish and fully fund its own independent militia if it wanted to ban gays from its National Guard force, Attorney General Kenneth Cuccinelli says.</p> <p>Cuccinelli issued an advisory opinion earlier this week at the request of Del. Bill Janis, R-Henrico, who asked whether the legislature can order the Virginia National Guard to continue the"don't ask, don't tell" policy recently repealed by Congress.</p>

Junk Science: Democrats in Virginia are trying to stop their attorney general from probing climate fraud carried out by university researchers at taxpayer expense. Are they afraid of finding the inconvenient truth? It's not the crime, it's the cover-up, as the saying goes. In the case of former University of Virginia climate scientist Michael Mann and his supporters, it may be both. Not only did Mann participate in perhaps the greatest scam of modern times, but he may have also have fraudulently used taxpayer funds to do so. At least Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli thinks so, and has been...

<p>RICHMOND, Va. - A power struggle is unfolding in Virginia over climate change research. Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli has been taking the University of Virginia to court to get information on a climate change researcher who once worked at the school.</p>

On Dec. 30, a federal appeals court froze new EPA regulations on greenhouse gases. The team representing the State of Texas in this appeal is also the team managing the largest Obamacare lawsuit in America, led by a lawyer from the Reagan administration. This appeal is the latest reminder that America good judges to uphold the rule of law and stop President Obama’s ongoing power grab. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued its first round of anti-business, job-killing carbon regulations last year. Those rules were to go into effect this year, and EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson—President Obama’s handpicked EPA head—has...

Today, Virginia taxpayers, a state lawmaker and a public interest law firm are asking the University of Virginia to produce important "global warming" records under that state's Freedom of Information Act. These are records the school no longer denies possessing but nonetheless refuses to release, even to Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli. They address one of the most high-profile claims used to advance massive economic-intervention policies in the name of "global warming." In response to a previous FOIA request, U.Va. denied these records existed. However, during Cuccinelli's pre-investigation under the Virginia Fraud Against Taxpayers Act ("FATA"), a 2007 law passed unanimously...

When ObamaCare passed in the partisan manner in which it did, the liberal establishment and its ever growing army of pipsqueak transcribers in the mainstream media said ObamaCare’s passage would be a boon for Democrats and mocked those like Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli who spoke out against ObamaCare and called the measure unconstitutional, particularly the individual mandate requirement that would compel citizens to buy health insurance they may not have otherwise wanted to purchase. What a difference a year makes. Fast forward to the present, and ObamaCare -- and its proponents -- are on the ropes, particularly in the...

Nearing the end of a year in which the issue of illegal immigration repeatedly roiled Virginia, state lawmakers introduced numerous bills for the 2011 General Assembly that would toughen the state's treatment of undocumented residents. Del. Christopher Peace, R-Henrico, recently filed a bill that would bar illegal immigrants from attending Virginia's public colleges and universities. And Del. Dave Albo, R-Fairfax, introduced legislation requiring local social service agencies to verify the legal status of those applying for public assistance and giving the governor the power to withholding funding for agencies that don't comply. The bill is one of several immigration measures...

Health Reform Law's Legal, Political Obstacles Continue to MountAIR DATE: Dec. 20, 2010 JEFFREY BROWN: Next: new legal challenges for the landmark health reform law, as this past week marked a major moment in the battle between the Obama administration and a number of states. (CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) One of the most important and controversial pieces of the health reform law signed by President Obama last March is the so-called individual insurance mandate, under which individuals must buy health insurance beginning in 2014, or pay a penalty. The fines would be phased in, starting at $95 per person that first...