On Monday, the Supreme Court heard the first round of oral arguments for cases challenging the constitutionality of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, President Obama’s signature health care reform legislation. In a way, it was an appetizer before the judicial main course that will be served up the following two days, as the nine justices spent 89 minutes considering whether they should even be considering this case right now at all.
At the center of Monday’s discussion was a 19th century law called the Anti-Injunction Act, which prohibits challenges to tax laws until they take effect. The question presented was whether the penalties imposed on individuals who fail to obtain health insurance should be considered a tax and, if so, whether a challenge to the individual mandate must wait until the penalties go into effect in 2014.
That’s what the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals decided when it dismissed challenges to health care reform in its jurisdiction last year. And although neither the Obama Administration nor those challenging the law agreed with the circuit court’s decision, the Supreme Court decided to add the case to its docket and bring in an outside lawyer to argue in favor of a delay.
It’s difficult to divine how the Court will act solely on what takes place during oral arguments, but it seems most of the justices were inclined to decide on the merits of the case now and not opt for a two-year postponement. Although all the justices expressed interest in determining how the individual mandate fines operated and whether they were, in fact a tax or a penalty, there seemed to be little support for a delay even if the fines were held to be a tax — that, in fact, the Anti-Injunction Act, while preventing most tax-related lawsuits did not prevent them all and was not applicable in this case.
The Court has provided same-day transcripts and audio recordings of Monday’s oral arguments.
On Tuesday, the Supreme Court will hear two hours of arguments that go to the heart of the challenge to health care reform: whether the individual mandate to purchase insurance is constitutional. Congressionaldigest.com will continue to blog on the challenges to health care reform this week, and the topic will be the subject of the May 2012 issue of Supreme Court Debates.
