Legal Challenges

The health law challenge will mark Chief Justice John Roberts's legacy, The New York Times writes.

The Washington Post profiles the plaintiff states' lawyer, Paul Clement.

Long before the healthcare case, Clement had become the go-to lawyer for Republicans, writes Bloomberg.

Venture capitalists are shifting their attention to businesses that keep patients and costs low in the wake of the healthcare reform law, reports KQED.

Mary Brown's $4,500 in unpaid medical bills could help the Obama administration make the case for the insurance mandate.

The legislation has stalled as leaders weigh the wisdom of telling the judicial branch how to do its business.

Judge Ronald B. Leighton said the state rules were designed "to force religious objectors to dispense Plan B."

The Supreme Court on Wednesday declined to decide whether California doctors and patients have the right to challenge state Medicaid cuts.

Plaintiffs had argued that the state violated the federal Medicaid statute by approving deep cuts that would hurt patients' access to care, and the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals recognized their right to seek redress. The question before the high court was whether the cuts could be struck down under the Supremacy Clause of the Constitution, which declares that federal statutes trump state law when the two are at odds.

The justices however ruled 5-4 that because the federal Medicaid agency has signed off on the cuts since the suits were first filed, the lower court should reexamine the case "in light of the changed circumstances."

The justices added an extra 30 minutes to hear whether they have authority to rule on the individual mandate's legality.

Republicans argue the admission undermines the White House defense of the healthcare law before the Supreme Court.

Forty-three Senate Republicans filed a brief Monday urging the Supreme Court to strike the individual mandate in President Obama’s healthcare law.

The brief echoes the arguments made by the 26 states that filed the legal challenge. If Congress can require people to buy health insurance, the brief argues, it could mandate almost any purchase. Critics of the mandate say it takes the unprecedented and unconstitutional step of requiring economic activity, rather than regulating it.

The court's decision to hear challenges to the healthcare law this spring has spurred action on the issue

Americans who are eligible for Medicare benefits can't give them up, a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday.

The unusual case was brought by five people who would prefer not to be on Medicare because their private insurer limits hospital coverage for customers who are entitled to the government health program. The plaintiffs, who include former House Majority Leader Dick Armey (R-Texas), sued to stop their automatic enrollment into Medicare.

"This is not your typical lawsuit against the Government," D.C. circuit Judge Brett Kavanaugh, a Republican appointee, wrote for the court. "Plaintiffs here have sued because they don't want government benefits."