Saturday, 24 December 2011
Supreme Court To Hear Health Care Law Arguments In March
The Supreme Court recently announced that it has set aside a week in March to listen to arguments over the constitutionality of the new health insurance legislation as it wants to settle the issue before the presidential elections in 2012. The court said it will listen to arguments concerning the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act from March 26 to 28.
According to an article by the Associated Press, the court time means there should be a final decision on the controversial health care law by Independence Day as President Obama campaigns for re-election. The new legislation has been strongly opposed by all of the president’s potential GOP opponents. The Republicans claimed that the new law was unconstitutional before the president signed it in March 2010.
In March, the justices will listen to over five hours of debates on the new health care law. The last time the Supreme Court set aside that much time for an issue was in 2003. The arguments will start on Mon. March 26 and decide whether or not court action is actually premature since nobody has paid a fine for not participating in the health care overhaul.
American law typically doesn’t allow any court challenges concerning things such as taxes until they have been paid. An appeals court in Richmond, Va., made a ruling earlier in 2011 which said the fines for not buying insurance wouldn’t be paid before the federal income tax returns need to be sent in by April 2015, meaning it’s too early for the court to rule.
The next day of arguments will deal with whether Congress has the authority to require Americans to buy health insurance in 2014 or be fined. The White House said it’s well within its power to enforce the law while opponents of it say Congress is overstepping its authority with the mandate. So far, just one of four appellate courts have ruled that the mandate is unconstitutional.
The last day of Supreme Court time will deal with arguments regarding whether the remainder of the health care law can be put into effect if the health insurance mandate is ruled to be unconstitutional. In addition, discussions will be held over whether the new law has gone too far by coercing individual states to join in on the legislation by threatening to cut off federal money. Opponents to the law say it should all be scrapped if the individual insurance mandate is ruled unconstitutional, while the government says most of the legislation should still be allowed to function.
