Supreme Court sets aside three days for arguments on healthcare reform law

The Supreme Court will hear arguments on President Obama's healthcare law over a three-day span in late March.

The schedule further confirms the universal expectation that the court will issue a ruling on the healthcare law next June, at the height of the 2012 campaign.

The Supreme Court will begin on March 26 with one hour of arguments on whether it can reach a decision on the reform law before 2014. There is a possibility that a separate federal law will prevent the courts from ruling until the law's individual mandate has taken effect.

On March 27, the justices will hear two hours of arguments on the core question of whether the mandate is unconstitutional.

And on March 28, the court will hear arguments on two issues: how much, if any, of the law's other provisions can be upheld if the mandate is unconstitutional, and whether the health law's Medicaid expansion is constitutional.

The court will not hear any other cases during that three-day span.

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