United States Supreme Court Courtroom
By Dave Andrusko
The news broke yesterday on scotusblog.com that the Supreme Court will decide November 10 what, if anything, to do this term with the multiple challenges to ObamaCare. Should the justices agree to hear the cases surrounding the “Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act” (PPACA), they might announce that as early as November 14, according to Lyle Denniston at scotusblog.com.
A decision to go ahead would be freighted with importance. It would likely mean the High Court would issue its ruling in the midst of the 2012 presidential campaign. ObamaCare undoubtedly will a major issue regardless of which pro-life Republican challenges pro-abortion President Barack Obama.
“Five of the six pending petitions (the sixth is not ready yet) were distributed to the Justices’ chambers on Wednesday, for consideration at that private session,” Denniston wrote. “Four of the petitions were filed by challengers, and together they raise all of the key issues the Justices may want to consider as they examine the massive Affordable Care Act passed by Congress at the urging of President Obama,” Denniston writes.
“The fifth petition is the federal government’s, defending the constitutionality of the insurance-purchase mandate that is crucial to the overall law’s functioning.”
As court watchers always advise, never assume with the High Court. Nonetheless the odds seemingly are stacked in favor of review because (a) both the Obama administration and ObamaCare opponents want the Court to review whether the law’s requirement that virtually all Americans buy insurance is constitutional, and (b) there have been conflicting circuit court decisions. The justices could take a single suit or combine them.
The multiple abortion-expanding provisions of ObamaCare were addressed in an October 6 letter to the House of Representatives and in testimony by Legislative Director Douglas Johnson (www.nrlc.org/AHC/
Specifically, ObamaCare includes provisions that “provide authorizations for subsidies for abortion, both implicit and explicit, and also multiple provisions that opened doors to abortion-expanding administrative actions.” The Protect Life Act would prohibit the use of any ObamaCare-authorized funds for abortions or to subsidize health plans that cover abortions, except to save the life of the mother, or in cases of rape or incest.
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