Supreme Test for Health Law

November 15, 2011

Wall Street Journal

By JESS BRAVIN

The Supreme Court agreed Monday to review President Barack Obama's health-care overhaul, in a landmark case that could define not only Mr. Obama's presidency but the scope of federal power well into the 21st century.

The case is likely to be heard in March, and reflecting its significance, the court ordered an extraordinary 5½ hours of argument, compared with the 60 minutes typically allotted. A ruling is expected by June 30, in the midst of an election campaign where perceptions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, Mr. Obama's signature legislative achievement, could be pivotal.

The justices ordered arguments on several contested provisions of the health law, but the flashpoint is its requirement that most Americans carry health insurance or pay a penalty along with their income taxes.

The individual mandate has emerged as the new crucible of states' rights, with the principal case pitting 26 Republican state attorneys general and governors against the administration.

Both sides previewed their 2012 campaign arguments over the law Monday.

The Obama administration says it has already expanded coverage to more than a million young people whom the law allows to stay on their parents' plans until they are 26 years old.

Republicans have pledged to repeal the law if they win the 2012 election. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.) said it "represents an unprecedented and unconstitutional expansion of the federal government into the daily lives of every American."

Democrats initially hoped the mandate to carry health insurance, conceived as a private-sector alternative to the public single-payer system many on the left preferred, would draw Republican support. Instead, conservatives seized on it as exemplifying federal overreach, saying in a string of lawsuits that Congress had asserted powers far beyond its constitutional authority to regulate interstate commerce.

The state coalition, led by Florida's attorney general, prevailed in August before the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta. It ruled the mandate unconstitutional in a 207-page opinion, declaring it "breathtaking in its expansive scope."

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