Three judges appointed to the bench by Democratic presidentswill hear the first appellate arguments on whether requiringAmericans to buy health insurance is, as a lower court judge ruled,the same as ordering them to buy broccoli or a Cadillac.

So far, trial court decisions on the law have broken along partylines, with judges appointed by Republican presidents rulingagainst the law and Democratic-appointed judges ruling in favor ofit.

The U.S. appeals judges in Virginia assigned to review the casesare Diana Gribbon Motz, Andre Davis and James Wynn Jr. Davis andWynn were appointed to the appeals court in Richmond, Virginia byPresident Barack Obama. Motz was appointed by President BillClinton.

The Justice Department will seek today to persuade the judgesthat Obama's health-care overhaul, which mandates most Americansobtain insurance, is constitutional. In back-to-back arguments, thepanel will review two rulings — one upholding the law and the otherstriking down part of it.

“The fact that the government is sending the solicitor generalof the United States to argue the case does reflect how importantthe government considers this case to be,” said Lisa Blatt, anappeals lawyer at Arnold & Porter LLP in Washington. The U.S.solicitor general usually argues cases before the U.S. SupremeCourt.

Market Will Wither The U.S. calls the insurance mandate thelinchpin of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act,claiming that, without expanding the pool of younger, healthiercustomers, the insurance industry won't be able to meet itsobligations for coverage under the law. Absent the mandate, thehealth-insurance market will wither, the government said in courtpapers.

The arguments before the U.S. Court of Appeals in Richmond maypreview two other cases to be heard early next month in federalappeals courts in Cincinnati and Atlanta. Decisions by the threepanels, especially if their rulings differ, may set the stage for“the ultimate argument” before the Supreme Court, said MichaelGerhardt, a constitutional law professor at University of NorthCarolina School of Law in Chapel Hill.

Christian University The Virginia appeals stem from a challengeto the law by the state of Virginia and another by LibertyUniversity, a Christian school founded in Lynchburg, Virginia, bythe late Reverend Jerry Falwell.

The cases were assigned randomly to three judges, whoseidentities were made public this morning.

The appeal of the Nov. 30 ruling by U.S. District Judge NormanMoon, in Lynchburg, who upheld the act, will be heard first.Liberty University argued the mandatory health-insurance provisionis unconstitutional and claims the law doesn't protect againstinsurance payments funding abortions.

In a 54-page opinion, Moon compared the provision to lawsmandating a minimum wage.

U.S. District Judge Henry Hudson of Richmond reached theopposite conclusion on Dec. 13, finding the mandate beyondCongress's power to regulate interstate commerce.

Virginia claimed Congress has only the power to tax, not toforce participation in a market. In its lawsuit, the state defendedits Health Care Freedom Act, which barred compelling Virginians tobuy health insurance.

'Unchecked Expansion' In his 42-page opinion, Hudson said the“unchecked expansion” of congressional power represented by theinsurance requirement “would invite unbridled exercise of federalpolice powers.” No Supreme Court decision authorized Congress to“compel an individual to involuntarily enter the stream of commerceby purchasing a commodity in the private market,” he wrote.

Hudson's decision was the first loss by the government inchallenges mounted in Virginia, Michigan, Oklahoma, the District ofColumbia and Florida, where 26 states joined an effort to have thestatute thrown out.

Hudson limited his ruling to the mandatory insuranceprovision.

E. Duncan Getchell Jr., Virginia's solicitor general, will arguefor the state today in Richmond. Mathew Staver, dean of LibertyUniversity School of Law, will argue the university's case. ActingU.S. Solicitor General Neal Katyal will represent the Obamaadministration.

Democrat Majority The U.S. Court of Appeals in Richmond shiftedto a majority of Democratic appointees after Obama, a Democrat,filled four seats left open by former President George W. Bush, aRepublican. Three U.S. District Court judges appointed byDemocrats, including Moon, have upheld the statute. Hudson,appointed to the bench by Bush, and U.S. District Judge RogerVinson, an appointee of Republican President Ronald Reagan, ruledagainst it.

Vinson, in Pensacola, Florida, found on Jan. 31 that theinsurance mandate was essential to the legislative scheme, makingthe entire act unconstitutional.

Under the logic of the mandate, Congress could force people tobuy broccoli because it's healthy, or require anyone above acertain income level to purchase General Motors cars because thatwould help a taxpayer-subsidized business, he said.

Justice Department lawyers in court papers said the individualmandate and expansions of Medicaid and employer-based coverage willprovide about 32 million more people with coverage by 2019, citingthe Congressional Budget Office.

Interstate Commerce The mandate falls under Congress's power toregulate interstate commerce as $43 billion in unpaid medical billsare absorbed by the market each year, the Justice Departmentsaid.

“People do not confront unexpected life-or-death needs for aCadillac, and they do not carry insurance to finance futurepurchases of cars or prohibitively expensive vegetables,” thedepartment lawyers wrote in the government's appellate brief. “Andwhereas patients are effectively guaranteed expensive health careservices in times of need regardless of their means, drivers mustpay for their cars in order to drive them off the lot.”

The cases are Liberty University v. Geithner, 10-02347, andCommonwealth of Virginia v. Sebelius, 11-01057 and 11-01058, U.S.Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit (Richmond).