Supreme Court Tackles Individual Mandate

The US Supreme Court this morning listened to arguments related to the individual mandate provision of the health care reform act, or Obamacare. The court has three clear options: one, to reject the entire law; two, to reject two changes in the way the law works; or three, to reject only the individual mandate which requires all Americans to purchase health insurance or to pay a fine.

The morning session included two observations from Justice Antonin Scalia that more or less book-ended the arguments (h/t Scotusblog). First, Scalia noted that it “just couldn’t be right” if the Court struck down even the parts of the law not affected by the mandate. Then he observed that if the mandate goes, “then the statute’s gone.”

The justices also wondered if Congress has the backbone to deal with the issue.

The Court will hear arguments this afternoon on the law’s expansion of Medicaid. This session will conclude the Court’s six hours of oral arguments on the health care act.

Paul Ausick