As blizzards battered much of the country this week, a storm of a decidedly different type picked up speed when a federal judge in Florida ruled that President Obama's healthcare reform law was unconstitutional. That decision and the subsequent fallout made up the majority of the online legal news for the week ending February 4.

As blizzards battered much of the country this week, a storm of a decidedly different type picked up speed when a federal judge in Florida ruled that President Obama's healthcare reform law was unconstitutional. That decision and the subsequent fallout made up the majority of the online legal news for the week ending February 4.

Judge Roger Vinson of the Federal District Court in Pensacola, Florida, ruled on Monday, January 31, that the provision in the Affordable Care Act requiring individuals to have insurance or pay a fine was unconstitutional, reports The New York Times. Vinson said as a result of this and other provisions, the whole law needs to be invalidated.

“If Congress can penalize a passive individual for failing to engage in commerce, the enumeration of powers in the Constitution would have been in vain,” Vinson said in his 78-page decision.

The Times reports that Vinson is the second judge to rule the law invalid, the other being Judge Henry E. Hudson of the Federal District Court in Richmond, Virginia, who handed down his decision in December. Two other federal judges have upheld the healthcare reform law. Online searchers have apparently taken a bit of an interest in Vinson and his ruling with searches for “Roger Vinson” peaking on Monday, according to Google Trends.

In another healthcare reform legal story, the Department of Justice said it would oppose a request made by Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli asking that the U.S. Supreme Court immediately review the law, according to Bloomberg.

The DOJ and the Obama administration have said that the high court should follow its standard procedure and allow an appeals court to rule on the law before reviewing it themselves.

Bloomberg reports that the Supreme Court has rarely bypassed this process in the past 50 years, and one attorney who has appeared before the high court more than 60 times told the news source that there is “zero” chance of the court looking at the case before the appeals process.

Healthcare reform wasn't the only topic buzzing around the legal world as New York Mets principal owner Fred Wilpon said he wants a lawsuit filed by Irving Picard to remain sealed. Picard is a trustee attempting to recover funds for victims of Bernie Madoff's Ponzi scheme. According to The Wall Street Journal's Law Blog, Wilpon and a number of his companies are one of the approximately 100 “winners” in the Madoff case, which means they may have received more money than they lost in the scheme. Picard's lawsuit may force Wilpon and other owners to sell off a minority stake in the baseball team. The media have been following the developments closely as a Google News search for “Mets Madoff” returns more than 500 articles.

The legal and sports worlds also intersected this week when former Arkansas and USC quarterback Mitch Mustain was arrested on Tuesday, February 1, for allegedly trying to sell the prescription drug Adderall to an undercover police officer. It was believed that Mustain may have faced felony charges, but the Los Angeles Times reports that prosecutors said they will not pursue such charges as the ex-football player attempted to sell the officer lisdexamfetamine dimesylate, which is not a controlled substance. The quarterback's legal troubles have been some of the most popular online legal news for the week, with “Mitch Mustain” being the eighth most searched topic on Wednesday, February 2.

That's the online trending legal news for the week ending February 4.

Doug is Brafton's legal editor. He studied journalism in college and has worked for a number of media establishments.