Eventually, it will end with the Supremes.

Obama's Justice Department has begun the process of appealing federal Judge Henry Hudson's ruling that the government cannot mandate citizens to carry health insurance.  It will likely carry its appeal to the Supreme Court by 2012, legal scholars predict.

Hudson's Monday decision read: "Despite the laudable intentions of Congress in enacting a comprehensive and transformative health care regime, the legislative process must still operate within constitutional bounds."

Because this part of the health care reform law doesn't take effect until 2013, the judge made a "declaratory" ruling, meaning it will be reviewed by a higher court and mandates no action at present.

Still, it sets an intense legal battle in front of the Democrats' long-cherished reform.

The New Yorker wrote: "About two dozen other challenges are in the legal pipeline, and it’s likely that other judges will agree. (Two judges have already upheld the law.)  Clearly, the last word on the law will belong to Breyer and his colleagues, probably some time next year."

Talking Points Memo sees it quite differently, however.

Brian Beutler wrote the judge made an "elementary error": "Legal experts are attacking Judge Henry Hudson's decision on the merits, citing an elementary logical flaw at the heart of his opinion. And that has conservative scholars -- even ones sympathetic to the idea that the mandate is unconstitutional -- prepared to see Hudson's decision thrown out."

These experts say the judge fundamentally misread the powers granted to Congress by the Constitution: "As a result of this error, Hudson never engages the key question in the case: whether the individual mandate is a reasonable way for Congress to implement regulations within its purview."

Obama's reaction Monday was nonplussed: "Keep in mind this is one ruling by one federal district court. We've already had two federal district courts that have ruled that this is definitely constitutional."