SAN FRANCISCO -- A federal judge in San Francisco turned down a bid by two veterans' groups for a broad injunction requiring better mental health care for veterans and an overhaul in the claims process on Wednesday.

U.S. District Judge Samuel Conti said the remedies sought by the groups "are beyond the power of this court" and instead were in the hands of Congress and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

Conti said in an 82-page ruling that the veterans' agency "may not be meeting the needs of all the nation's veterans," but said that a complete overhaul of the system "is clearly outside this court's jurisdiction."

Arturo Gonzalez, a lawyer for the groups Veterans for Common Sense and Veterans United for Truth, said they planned to appeal to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco.

Gonzalez said the judge's opinion "acknowledges numerous problems" and accepted many of the factual claims made by the groups about deficiencies in mental health care and the claims system.

A spokesman for the veterans' agency said he had not seen the ruling and had no immediate comment.

The veterans' groups claimed in the lawsuit filed last year that care and suicide prevention for veterans suffering stress from combat in Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq were woefully inadequate.

Conti's ruling noted studies by department officials showing that there are about 18 suicides per day among the nation's 25 million veterans and that the rate is more than three times higher than for the general population.