RICHMOND, Va. (Bloomberg)—Virginia will seek expedited U.S. Supreme Court review of the health care reform law, asking the justices to take the unusual step of considering the case without waiting for an appeals court decision.

In court papers to be filed in Washington, Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli said he will urge the high court to uphold a federal trial judge's conclusion that Congress overstepped its authority by requiring Americans to either obtain insurance or pay a penalty.

A decision by the court to take up the case now would guarantee a ruling well before the 2012 presidential election. The Justice Department said on Dec. 14 it opposed expedited high court review. Tracy Schmaler, a Justice Department spokeswoman, didn't immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday.

The Supreme Court has taken the step being sought by Mr. Cuccinelli, known as certiorari before judgment, only a handful of times in the past half century and generally only when the justices are simultaneously considering a related case that has cleared the appellate level.

“A case cannot have public policy implications that are more important than this case,” Mr. Cuccinelli said in a statement.

U.S. District Judge Henry Hudson in December ruled that the insurance mandate was beyond Congress's power to regulate interstate commerce. A federal appeals court based in Richmond, Virginia, is scheduled to hear the Obama administration's appeal of that ruling in May—alongside an appeal of a different judge's decision upholding the law.

Florida ruling

Separately, a federal judge in Florida this week declared the entire law unconstitutional in a challenge brought by 26 states. That case is on course to be reviewed by a federal appeals court.

The Supreme Court hasn’t directly considered a challenge to Congress’s power under the Constitution’s commerce clause since John Roberts became chief justice in 2005.

Opponents say the health plan is unlike anything the Supreme Court has ever approved as a constitutional exercise of Congress’s authority over interstate commerce because the law would require people to take action: either buy health insurance or pay a fine. Judge Hudson said no Supreme Court or appeals court ruling authorizes Congress to “compel an individual to involuntarily enter the stream of commerce” by buying something.

The Obama administration argues that the individual mandate is essential to the law’s goal of increasing health care availability and affordability.

The government says that, without such a rule, people could forgo buying insurance until they became sick, at which point the new law would require insurers to provide coverage. That would drive up costs and eventually drive insurers out of business, the administration says.

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