Supreme Court Conservatives Pose Tough Questions of Health Law Defender on Second Day

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In its second day before the Supreme Court, President Obama’s health care law faced tough questioning from the Court’s more conservative justices. Today’s arguments centered on the law’s controversial individual mandate, which would require most Americans to purchase health insurance or pay a penalty. Just minutes into today’s arguments four of the court’s conservative judges posed skeptical questions to the lawyer defending the health law. Most analysts believe one of those four justices could be the vote needed to uphold the law, but today’s questioning indicated an uphill battle for the law’s supporters. Defenders say the law falls within Congress’ power to regulate interstate commerce, because all Americans are virtually certain to use health insurance sometime in their lives. But opponents argue it steps beyond the Constitution and sets a dangerous precedent. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is President Obama’s most important and controversial domestic policy. It has been a rallying cry for Tea Party conservatives demanding a smaller federal government. In the 2010 mid-term elections, Republicans used opposition to the law to win their most commanding control of the House of Representatives since 1949. According to a recent New York Times/CBS poll fifty-one percent of Americans oppose the individual mandate, compared to 45 percent who support it. But the same poll also found Americans strongly support most of the law’s other provisions. Two of the most popular would require insurance companies to cover pre-existing medical conditions without a penalty and allow young adults to remain on their parents’ health insurance until they’re 26. Legal analysts and blogs say it’s almost impossible to determine how the Court will ultimately rule on the case, but the decision will be very close either way.