SCOTUS health review call looms
By: Jennifer Haberkorn
October 26, 2011 12:27 PM EDT - POLITICO

The Supreme Court could decide Nov. 10 whether it will review President Barack Obama’s health care reform law this term.

The Obama administration and five opponents of the law are asking the court to review whether the law’s requirement that all Americans buy insurance is constitutional. Five of the six pending requests have been sent to the justices ahead of the November conference, at which the justices will decide which cases it will accept.

Petitions from the Obama administration and several opponents of the law — including 26 states, the National Federation of Independent Business, Liberty University and the Thomas More Law Center — will be under consideration.

Virginia has also asked the court to accept its case, but the Justice Department has not yet responded. Virginia’s petition was not circulated Wednesday.

The court could decide at the Nov. 10 private conference if it wants to hear the issue — and would likely announce it on Nov. 14 — or could defer a decision until a later conference.

The court is expected to take up the health care law, both because the administration is asking it to and because the circuit courts have issued conflicting decisions on whether the mandate is constitutional.

If the justices want to review the issue, they would have to decide whether to accept one of the suits or combine them.

This article first appeared on POLITICO Pro at 12:21 p.m. on October 26, 2011.

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