While the Obama Administration attempts to sort out difficulties with the healthcare.gov website and Congress holds hearings on the subject, another cases challenging an employer-related portion of the Affordable Care Act is a step closer to the U.S. Supreme Court. On October 31, the District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled that the provision mandating that all health insurance plans must provide free-of-charge contraceptive coverage could violate the First Amendment religious freedom of owners of small businesses. In the case of Gilardi v. U.S. Department of Health  & Human Services, the two brothers who own Freshway Foods and…

The Supreme Court’s landmark series of decisions on the constitutionality of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act in June of this year may not be the last word on the matter. Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court instructed the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to rehear a lawsuit challenging the law’s mandate that companies and organizations with more than 50 employees provide health care or pay a penalty. Although the Supreme Court had upheld the requirement that all Americans have insurance or pay a fine (technically, a tax) — the so-called individual mandate — it declined to rule…

It’s been two weeks since the Supreme Court handed down the last decision of the 2011-12 term, the highly anticipated ruling on the constitutionality of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Much of the nation is still buzzing over Chief Justice John Roberts’ decision to write the majority opinion upholding most of the law, and speculation and rumors have run rampant over the behind-the-scenes action that led up to the controversial decision. Did the chief justice switch his vote at the last minute? Was his majority opinion a surreptitious way of reigning in Congress’s power under the Commerce Clause?…

In a 5-4 decision authored by Chief Justice John Roberts, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled today that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is constitutional. The Court upheld the most controversial portion of the law — the requirement that as of 2014 all Americans must have health insurance or pay a penalty — as a valid exercise of Congress’s tax powers. The penalty, the majority held, is in fact a tax on those who do not have health insurance, as it is enforced through the tax code and assessed on Federal tax returns. In rendering this judgment, the Court…

The Supreme Court wrapped up its third and final day of oral arguments on the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act today, as it considered two distinct questions. The first case dealt with how much of the reform law should survive if the Court strikes down the mandate that most Americans must buy health insurance or pay a penalty. Lawyers for the opponents of the law argued that the entire Act must be thrown out. The Obama Administration position is that the prohibition against insurers discriminating against those with pre-existing conditions, as well as insurance rate controls, would be invalidated….

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…

On Wednesday, the Obama Administration announced that it would appeal an Eleventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel’s decision to strike down part of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act directly to the U.S. Supreme Court. The Administration could have opted to request that the full circuit court rehear the case en banc, but the Administration declined to do so. This means the High Court will almost certainly consider the case in the upcoming 2011-12 term and could grant certiorari as early as next week, when the new session begins on Monday. “Today, the Obama Administration will ask the…