Legal Challenges

The Supreme Court is under growing pressure to allow cameras in the courtroom when it considers challenges to the healthcare reform law next year.

The Senate Judiciary Committee's subcommittee on Administrative Oversight and the Courts is holding a hearing on the issue Tuesday. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) are among the lawmakers calling on the court to approve C-SPAN's request to cover the record six hours of arguments over two days, arguing that the Justices' ruling will affect all Americans.

The hearing comes as Grassley and Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) introduced bipartisan legislation Monday requiring cameras during court proceedings. The requirement would only apply to court proceedings that are already open to the public. Healthwatch's Sam Baker has more on the bill here.

Merger mayhem: Pharmacy benefit managers Medco Health Solutions and Express Scripts have another chance to pitch their proposed merger to lawmakers — and the public. The Senate Judiciary Committee is holding a hearing on the merger Tuesday, three months after the House held its hearing. The companies two CEOs will be testifying, along with pharmacy officials threatened by the merger.

Both sides tried to score points ahead of the hearing. An industry-funded study found that the two companies save public and private payers up to $87 billion a year. The pharmacy lobby, meanwhile, announced that three Republican senators have issues with the merger, raising bipartisan statements of concern to at least 23.

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A bipartisan Senate bill introduced Monday would require cameras in the Supreme Court — a longstanding controversy that has heightened as the court prepares to consider President Obama's healthcare law.

Sens. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) introduced the bill ahead of a hearing Tuesday in the Senate Judiciary Committee.

"Nine Justices have a tremendous amount of influence on the lives of the people of this country, yet people know very little about the highest court in our country," Grassley said in a statement. "In fact, next year, the Supreme Court will hear arguments about a law that has the potential to impact every American."

The high court has scheduled nearly six hours of oral arguments about the healthcare reform law — a modern record. Arguments are expected in March and a ruling is likely to come next summer. Twenty-six states and the National Federation of Independent Business sued over the law's requirement that almost all Americans purchase health insurance, saying it's unconstitutional.

C-SPAN has asked the Supreme Court to allow cameras in the courtroom for the healthcare arguments, even if it's only a one-time deviation from the court's ban on televised proceedings. Several lawmakers have joined that push.

Durbin and Grassley's bill would only apply to court proceedings that are already open to the public. It would not, for example, require cameras in the private conferences at which the justices discuss how they will rule and which cases they should take.

A plaintiff in the health law Supreme Court challenge has filed for bankruptcy, raising questions about her standing — and the whole case, The Wall Street Journal reports.

Anti-abortion-rights groups are seeing a grassroots insurrection over legal tactics from supporters who want quicker results, The New York Times reports.

In 2010, 61 percent of adults aged 18 years and over had excellent or very good health, according to the latest data from the CDC.

Drugmakers aren't able to replicate a large percentage of research studies, raising doubts about scientific journals' methods and purpose, Nature reports in a special section. 

Republicans want to gut the health law's subsidies to pay for the Medicare "doc fix" while Democrats hope to use war savings, Inside Health Policy reports.

The nonpartisan Justice at Stake is asking that Justices Elena Kagan and Clarence Thomas publicly explain the reasoning behind their decision not to recuse themselves in the healthcare reform case.

The Supreme Court agreed to decide whether drug companies owe their sales reps overtime pay, The Wall Street Journal reports, in a case that could cost drugmakers millions — and further drive up the cost of medicines.

The obesity-plagued Pacific island nation of Samoa has agreed to scrap its import ban on fatty turkey trimmings in order to join the World Trade Organization, in a move seen as trading public health for development, Bloomberg reports.

Blue Shield of California is fulfilling its pledge to cap income at 2 percent of revenue, reports the Central Valley Business Times.

Group medical benefits costs are continuing to rise 18 months after passage of the healthcare reform law, but the increases appear to be moderating, reports Business Insurance magazine.

Next year's Supreme Court decision on the healthcare reform law could be the most heavily lobbied ever.

Rep. Lamar Smith is pressing DOJ to release records of the Supreme Court justice's time as solicitor general.

The insurance industry is worried the court will strike the individual mandate and leave the rest of the law intact.

The Supreme Court on Friday appointed two veteran D.C. lawyers to argue the merits of two issues that neither the Obama administration nor the health law's opponents support.

H. Bartow Farr, a partner at Farr & Taranto, has been chosen to argue that the entire law can stand if the individual mandate is struck down - the conclusion the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta reached in April. The government argues that the law's requirements that insurers cover all sick people at no extra cost can't survive without the mandate, while opponents say none of the law can.

Also, Robert Long, a partner with Covington & Burling, was chosen to defend the position that the mandate cannot be challenged before it goes into effect in 2014 because it's a tax. Both parties disagree, but the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond - and a dissenting judge in the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals - ruled that the Anti-Injunction Act bars the courts from ruling on the mandate before people start paying the penalty.

House Democrats want U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder to investigate Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas for failing to report earnings.

“All Americans will have a stake in the debate; therefore, all Americans should have access to it,” Pelosi said.