Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli’s quest to strike down Barack Obama’s health care reform law has flatlined — today, the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed a case made by the Cooch arguing that the federal law violated Virginia statutes.

According to the Hill, Cuccinelli was facing a pretty stacked deck, despite the Commonwealth law which says residents can’t be forced to purchase insurance:

The 4th Circuit’s long-awaited decision isn’t a huge surprise: those who attended oral arguments in the suits said the judges seemed skeptical of the mandate’s critics, especially Cuccinelli. All three of the judges who heard the case were appointed by Democratic presidents, and two were appointed by Obama.

What does this all mean? Well, not that much in the grand scheme of things. Objectors to the health care law were always expected to have their big day in front of the Supreme Court at some point next year. And Cuccinelli — who sure appears well-positioned for a run at higher office — gets to claim that he was an underdog who took his objections to Obama’s law as far as he could, which is probably what he was going for all along.