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BY VICTORIA CRAIG
ANCHOR LAUREN ZIMA
You're watching multisource political video news analysis from Newsy.
The US Supreme Court definitively answered a long awaited and much anticipated question Monday when it announced it will hear arguments to President Obama’s health care law. The Wall Street Journal highlights the main questions the Supreme Court will look to answer.
“Does federal power, under the Constitution, to regulate commerce allow the Congress to require most people to carry health insurance or pay a penalty. That’s the key question. There are other questions including the Medicaid program and also some procedural issues about when the law can be brought.”
The Supreme Court’s decision to hear the case against the president’s health care law comes just one week after two conservative judges on the DC Court of Appeals upheld the law’s individual mandate. But on Fox News, Bill McCollum, one of the representatives who brought the case to the Supreme Court, said he’s not worried because the law has gotten mixed rulings.
“We won both in our federal district court and we won in the eleventh circuit court of appeals with a Democrat-appointed, Clinton-appointed, judge going our way saying that it is unconstitutional. Judge Silberman ruled last week that it was. The other judge didn’t actually rule that it was constitutional, he simply said he didn’t think it should be decided right now.”
The nation’s highest court announced it will dedicate more than five hours to argument. The Washington Post is calling that an extraordinarily long period of time and recalls only one other case in which the court took up a similar amount of time for one case.
“The last time the court allotted anywhere near this much time for arguments was in 2003, for the consideration of the McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform. That case consumed four hours of argument.”
Even despite the significant time allotment, Politico adds the court likely won’t answer all questions brought before it.
“Anyone who thinks that the court's decision on the mandate will quell the relentless controversy over the rest of the 2010 health care reform law hasn't been paying attention to the drumbeat of ‘repeal and replace,’ along with ‘defund and delay’... here are five key issues to watch … the essential benefits package … the independent payment advisory panel ... affordability … abortion and birth control … should the health law be put on hold.”
The Supreme Court will likely begin hearing arguments early next year -- around February or March -- and reach a decision by summer.