On Monday the United States Supreme Court announced three March 2012 dates in which it will hold sessions to hear arguments on the health care reform legislation which was passed into law in March of 2010.
In all the Supreme Court will be reviewing three cases which question the constitutionality of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The decision on these three cases may become a key campaign issue in the 2012 Presidential race.
Department Health and Human Services, et al., Petitioners vs. Florida, et al. will be argued on Monday March 26, 2012 and Tuesday March 27, 2012. According to the Supreme Court document, this argument questions:
- “Whether Congress had the power under Article I of the Constitution to enact the minimum coverage provision.
Petitioners also suggest that the Court direct the parties to address the following question:
- Whether the suit brought by respondents to challenge the minimum coverage provision of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is barred by the Anti-Injunction Act, 26 U.S.C. 7421(a).”
National Federation of Independent Business, et al., Petitioners vs. Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary of Health and Human Services, et al. will be argued on Wednesday March 28, 2012. According to the Supreme Court document, this argument questions:
- “Whether the ACA must be invalidated in its entirety because it is non-severable from the individual mandate that exceeds Congress' limited and enumerated powers under the Constitution.”
Florida, et al., Petitioners vs. Department of Health and Human Services, et al. will be argued on Wednesday March 28, 2012. According to the Supreme Court document, this argument questions:
- “Does Congress exceed its enumerated powers and violate basic principles of federalism when it coerces States into accepting onerous conditions that it could not impose directly by threatening to withhold all federal funding under the single largest grant-in-aid program, or does the limitation on Congress's spending power that this Court recognized in South Dakota v. Dole, 483 U.S. 203 (1987), no longer apply?
- May Congress treat States no differently from any other employer when imposing invasive mandates as to the manner in which they provide their own employees with insurance coverage, as suggested by Garcia v. San Antonio Metropolitan Transit Authority, 469 U.S. 528 (1985), or has Garcia's approach been overtaken by subsequent cases in which this Court has explicitly recognized judicially enforceable limits on Congress's power to interfere with state sovereignty?
- Does the Affordable Care Act's mandate that virtually every individual obtain health insurance exceed Congress's enumerated powers and, if so, to what extent (if any) can the mandate be severed from the remainder of the Act?”
The Supreme Court may announce its decisions on these three cases when it reconvenes in June 2012.
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