PENSACOLA, FLORIDA (AP) -- A federal judge in Florida says the Obama administration's health overhaul is unconstitutional, siding with 26 states (including South Carolina) that had sued to block it.

U.S. District Judge Roger Vinson on Monday accepted without trial the states' argument that the new law violates people's rights by forcing them to buy health insurance by 2014 or face penalties.

Attorneys for the administration had argued that the states did not have standing to challenge the law and that the case should be dismissed.

The case is likely to go to the U.S. Supreme Court. Two other federal judges have upheld the insurance requirement, but a federal judge in Virginia also ruled the insurance requirement unconstitutional.

South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson made the following statement on the ruling:

"Judge Vinson's ruling is a tremendous victory for taxpayers and the Constitution. If the National Health Care law's unconstitutional mandate was allowed to stand, individual rights would be trampled, small business would be crippled, and our state would be pushed ever closer toward fiscal ruin... Today's ruling is a significant step forward in protecting our sovereignty and state economy."

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