What did Judge Roger Vinson decide about the individual mandate in 2011?

In January 2011, U.S. District Court Judge Roger Vinson ruled that the individual mandate was unconstitutional.1

He agreed with the plaintiffs' argument that Congress had exceeded its authority under the commerce clause, reasoning that the clause only grants the power to regulate "activities," whereas the mandate attempted to regulate "inactivity" by penalizing the failure to purchase health insurance. Furthermore, Judge Vinson determined that the mandate was not severable from the rest of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), leading him to declare the entire law unconstitutional.1

While he rejected the plaintiffs' "coercion theory" regarding the expansion of Medicaid, his decision on the mandate and the law's overall constitutionality was later partially affirmed by the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals in August 2011.1