The Supreme Court rejected a call Monday from Virginia's attorney general to depart from its usual practice and put review of the health care law on a fast track. Instead, judicial review of President Barack Obama's signature legislation will continue in federal appeals courts. 
 
 The justices turned down a request by Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, a leading opponent of the law, to resolve questions about its constitutionality quickly. The Obama administration opposed Cuccinelli's plea. 
 
 Only rarely, in wartime or a constitutional crisis, does the court step into a legal fight before the issues are aired in appellate courts. Hearings already are scheduled in May and June in three appeals courts. 
 
 The case still could reach the high court in time for a decision by early summer 2012. 
 
 Cuccinelli said he asked for speedy review to end "crippling and costly uncertainty" about the law. 
 
 "Expediting our case would have been the exception and so, although disappointing, this is not surprising," he said. 
 
 Justice Elena Kagan apparently took part in the court's order Monday, as there was no announcement that any justice sat out. There had been questions about whether she would participate because she served as Obama's solicitor general when the law was passed. Kagan indicated in Senate testimony last year that she played no role in the administration's planning and handling of challenges to the law. 
 
 So far, five federal judges have ruled on challenges to the law. Two Republican appointees, in Florida and Virginia, have declared it unconstitutional in whole or in part. Three Democratic appointees, in Michigan, Virginia and Washington, D.C., have upheld it. 
 
 Cuccinelli filed suit on behalf of Virginia, while 26 states joined in a separate lawsuit in Florida claiming that Congress exceeded its authority in requiring citizens to buy health insurance or pay a penalty starting in 2014. 
 
 In December, U.S. District Judge Henry E. Hudson in Richmond declared that the individual mandate, the heart of the sweeping legislation, is unconstitutional. U.S. District Judge Roger Vinson of Florida came to the same conclusion in January in striking down the law in its entirety. 
 
 Both rulings have been put on hold pending appeals. 
 
 In the meantime, the federal and state governments have begun to put in place other parts of the law, including changes in payment rates under the Medicare system for older and disabled Americans and a provision allowing children up to age 26 to remain on the parents' health insurance policies. ||||| From NBC's Pete Williams 
 
 The Supreme Court has rejected a request from the state of Virginia to take up a challenge to the Obama health care law on a fast track. 
 
 Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli asked the court to let the state bypass the normal federal appeals process and take the case directly to the justices. While the court's rules allow for this, such a rapid review is granted only very rarely. The Justice Department opposed the request to put the case on a fast track. 
 
 The court's decision means the issue will continue working its way through the federal appeals courts. Several cases are pending, including challenges to the law from Virginia, Florida, and 25 other states. 
 
 They claim that the centerpiece of the law -- requiring virtually all Americans to buy health insurance -- is unconstitutional. Two federal judges, in Virginia and Florida, have agreed with the states. 
 
 Three other judges, also in Virginia and in Michigan and Washington, DC, have found the law constitutional. 
 
 The cases are moving quickly through the appeals courts. The two Virginia cases will be heard by the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals on May 10th. The Michigan case will be heard by the 6th Circuit on June 1st, and the case from Florida, with the challenges from over half the states, will be argued before the 11th Circuit appeals court on June 8th. 
 
 *** UPDATE *** In today's brief one-sentence order rejecting the Virginia request, there's no indication that any justices were recused. 
 
 When the issue reaches the Supreme Court, as it is expected to during the term that starts in the fall, it appears that all nine justices will hear it. (Some conservative groups were calling on Elena Kagan to bow out, claiming she was involved in some early calls when she was solicitor general about who in her office should handle the issue.) 
 
 *** UPDATE II *** In a staetment, Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell said he is "disappointed" that the case will not be expedited. 
 
 "The court's refusal to hear this case now will force states and businesses to incur increased costs and expend significant effort to begin preparations necessary to ensure compliance with this law, which ultimately may be ruled unconstitutional," he said.
– The Supreme Court has denied Virginia’s request to fast-track the state’s case against the health care law, MSNBC reports. Virginia’s attorney general had sought to take the case—which calls the law’s requirement that almost all Americans purchase health care unconstitutional—straight to the high court, a legal move that's hardly ever allowed. The decision means that the Virginia case, one of several against the law, will keep progressing through US appeals courts. AG Ken Cuccinelli said he asked for speedy review to end "crippling and costly uncertainty" about the law. The matter is likely to reach the Supreme Court by early summer 2012, reports the AP. MSNBC notes that when it does, all nine justices are set to hear it, despite efforts by conservative groups to remove Elena Kagan from the mix. The groups held that she should recuse herself because she’d been involved in the matter as solicitor general. She apparently took part in the court's order today, as there was no announcement that any justice sat out.