President Obama's health care overhaul registered a legal win Wednesday, with a federal appeals court in Cincinnati voting 2-1 that the bill's requirement that all citizens obtain health insurance (the 'individual mandate') did not violate the Constitution's commerce clause. The ruling upheld a district court ruling that also found the law constitutional.

Writing for the majority, Judge Boyce Martin said: "Congress had a rational basis for concluding that the minimum coverage provision is essential to the Affordable Care Act's larger reforms to the national markets in health care delivery and health insurance."

Last December, federal judges in Virginia and Florida deemed the legislation unconstitutional because of the Commerce Clause issue. Earlier this month, a federal appeals court panel in Atlanta heard a lawsuit against the legislation brought by 26 states calling for repeal.

As the AP notes, this is the first ruling by a federal appeals court on the law.

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Ray Gustini