WASHINGTON (AP) — House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi said Thursday she is astonished by a judge's ruling that clears the way for a Republican challenge to President Obama's health care law to move ahead.

Pelosi told reporters at her weekly news conference she's confident that Wednesday's ruling by U.S. District Court Judge Rosemary Collyer will be overturned. Collyer said the House can pursue its claim that the Obama administration violated the Constitution when it spent public money not appropriated by Congress.

Republicans hailed the court ruling, and Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, said Thursday that "this victory sends a strong message that no one - especially no president - is above being held accountable to the Constitution."

Pelosi called that ruling "astounding" and unprecedented. She says congressional Republicans "have tried 60 ways to repeal the Affordable Care Act and I believe this will be overturned."

The California Democrat says an appeals court "will not want to be an arbiter" in a dispute between the legislative and executive branches.