U.S. judge throws out Maryland bid to protect Obamacare law

A sign on an insurance store advertises Obamacare in San Ysidro, San Diego, California, U.S., October 26, 2017. REUTERS/Mike Blake

By Lawrence Hurley

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. judge on Friday threw out the state of Maryland's bid to protect the healthcare law known as Obamacare in a ruling that also sidestepped a decision on whether President Donald Trump's appointment of Matthew Whitaker as acting attorney general was lawful.

In a win for the Republican president, Baltimore-based U.S. District Judge Ellen Hollander said Maryland had failed to show that the Trump administration is likely to terminate enforcement of the 2010 law, officially called the Affordable Care Act. The claim made by Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh, a Democrat, "consists of little more than supposition and conjecture about President Trump's possible actions," Hollander wrote.

(Reporting by Lawrence Hurley; Editing by Will Dunham)