President Barack Obama’s administration said it will appeal a Florida federal judge’s ruling that last year’s health-care overhaul overstepped the Constitution’s limits on congressional power by compelling people to buy insurance, Bloomberg reported.

U.S. District Judge Roger Vinson in Pensacola, Fla., said Monday that a provision of the law requiring Americans over the age of 18 to obtain insurance coverage exceeded the power of Congress to regulate interstate commerce under the Constitution. He ruled that the entire law must be voided because the insurance mandate is central to the legislation.

Florida sued on behalf of 13 states last March after Obama signed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, legislation intended to provide almost universal health-care coverage to citizens, and a total of 25 states had joined Florida’s suit by Monday’s decision.

Vinson, in his decision, wrote that the law is not aimed at “economic activity,” but rather “inactivity,” meaning the law doesn’t fall under the congressional power to regulate commerce, as the Obama administration contends.

Though Vinson ruled the entire law unconstitutional, he didn’t block the law while administration officials appeal the decision.

“We don’t believe this kind of judicial activism will be upheld, and we are confident that the (law) will ultimately be declared constitutional by the courts,” Stephanie Cutter, deputy senior adviser to Obama, wrote on the White House blog.

U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin from Iowa, also the chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, released a statement yesterday on Vinson’s decision, saying the judge was wrong.

“When people seek medical care without health insurance and don’t pay for it, they aren’t ‘opting out’ of the health-care market,” he said. “Instead, it adds more than $1,000 per year to the premiums of American families who act responsibly by having coverage. This clearly affects interstate commerce and is thus within Congress’ power to regulate.”

Harkin said he is confident that appellate courts and the Supreme Court will find the Affordable Care Act constitutional.