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A second Federal judge has ruled President Obama’s health care law unconstitutional for its requirement that Americans purchase commercial insurance. The ruling “even[s] the score at 2 to 2 in the lower courts as conflicting opinions begin their path to the Supreme Court,” according to the New York Times:

But unlike a Virginia judge in December, Judge Roger Vinson of Federal District Court in Pensacola, Fla., concluded that the insurance requirement was so “inextricably bound” to other provisions of the Affordable Care Act that its unconstitutionality required the invalidation of the entire law.

“The act, like a defectively designed watch, needs to be redesigned and reconstructed by the watchmaker,” Judge Vinson wrote.

The judge declined to immediately enjoin, or suspend, the law pending appeals, a process that could last two years. But he wrote that the federal government should adhere to his declaratory judgment as the functional equivalent of an injunction. That left confusion about how the ruling might be interpreted in the 26 states that are parties to the legal challenge.

Obama administration officials said that the ruling would not delay the implementation of the heath care plan, which is scheduled to take effect in 2014.

To read the entire New York Times story, click here.