SCOTUS: Health Care Reform Oral Arguments

The time is finally here. On three days next week, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear the long-awaited oral arguments on the challenges to the Affordable Care Act, the health care reform legislation that became law in 2010.  On Monday, March 26, the Court will hear attorneys argue the issue of the Anti-Injunction Act: Does anyone have the right to challenge the law in court before it goes into effect?  On Tuesday, arguments on the Commerce Clause and the individual mandate take place.  On Wednesday morning, the issue will be severability.  On Wednesday afternoon, oral arguments on the Spending Clause and the Medicaid expansion are scheduled.

Of course, seating in the court will be limited, and people were already lining up outside the building Friday morning for Monday's argument, which begins promptly at 10:00 a.m.  No cameras have been allowed into the proceeding, but the Court will make the audio recordings available from links on the Supreme Court web site as soon as possible within a few hours of each argument.  As stated in this official Court announcement, there will be a link to the first recording available no later than 2:00 p.m. Monday afternoon.  If you prefer, you can also listen to the arguments on C-Span3, C-Span Radio, or C-Span.org as soon as they are released.

For clear, basic information about the issues and attorneys, check out this special page with short videos at the Oyez Project.  More information and analysis is available at SCOTUSblog.



Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat