By Peter Galuszka

Surprise, surprise, surprise.

The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals has tossed out a notorious challenge by Virginia Attorney General Kenneth Cuccinelli and arch-conservative Liberty University to Obamacare.

In a surprise move, a three-judge panel at the appeals court ruled that the two plaintiffs did not have standing to bring the case and that their court had no standing to rule on it.

The judges are all Democratic-appointees who had been expected to rule in favor of Obamacare, especially the controversial section that requires all Americans to buy health insurance in 2014. A lower court had ruled on the merits of the case, but the Fourth Circuit, in effect, punted.

The Virginia General Assembly passed a law earlier this year nixing the forced purchase of insurance, but that put a state in conflict with federal law. Guess who usually wins?

That should toss the issue to the Supreme Court and a ruling next summer. It should also be a lesson in constitutional law for the hard right.

And speaking of the hard right, just for laughs I am posting part of the response of Tea Party leader Jamie Radtke who is running for the Republican nominationf or U.S. Senator:

“The U.S. Court of Appeals in Richmond has demonstrated a shocking lack of understanding of the U.S. Constitution and the intent of the states that ratified it, by virtue of the court’s ruling today that Virginia has no standing to challenge the constitutionality of a federal law that directly conflicts with a Virginia statute.”