PENSACOLA, Fla. — A federal judge who declared President Barack Obama’s health-care overhaul unconstitutional ruled today that states must continue implementing it while the case makes its way through the courts.

U.S. District Judge Roger Vinson was responding to a request from Obama administration attorneys who sought to ensure Florida and 25 other states follow the law until their challenge to it is resolved.

Two other U.S. district judges have upheld the law and a third in Virginia has ruled against it. The issue is widely expected to wind up before the U.S. Supreme Court.

In today’s ruling, Vinson admonished the administration for being slow to appeal and for asking him to clarify his ruling instead of filing a motion to put it on hold. Still, he said, it is in the nation’s best interest for states to continue following the law for now.

“It would be extremely disruptive and cause significant uncertainty” to halt implementation, he wrote.

However, if the federal government does not appeal within seven days, the states can consider the law invalid, he wrote.

Vinson ruled the massive overhaul unconstitutional in January, saying the federal government had overstepped its authority to regulate interstate commerce by requiring nearly all Americans to carry health insurance.

He said lawmakers do not have the power to penalize citizens for not doing something.

But he wrote in today’s ruling that other judges will probably disagree with him.

“It is likely that the Court of Appeals will also reach divergent results and that, as most court-watchers predict, the Supreme Court may eventually be split on this issue as well,” he wrote.

Maine is among the states that have joined Florida in the lawsuit. The others are: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Georgia, Indiana, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Nebraska, Nevada, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Washington, Wisconsin and Wyoming.