By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Journalist
A decision by the Obama administration not to seek a full U.S. Appeals Court review of the constitutionality of the president’s signature health care reform law has cleared the way for the Supreme Court to take up the case.
Newsmax is reporting that a Justice Department spokeswoman said it has decided against requesting the full U.S. Appeals Court for the 11th Circuit to review an August ruling a three-judge panel of the same court that found the individual mandate in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act to be unconstitutional.
Requesting a full court review might have pushed a politically risky Supreme Court decision beyond the 2012 election, but insiders say the government was probably not confident enough in the makeup of the 11th Circuit to bet on a favorable ruling. Only five of the 11 judges on the Court were appointed by Democrats and one justice has already ruled to strike the mandate.
The Supreme Court has long been expected to be the final arbiter in the case, leaving only a question of timing. Once the government files a request to the nation’s highest Court to hear the case, which must be done by November, it is widely expected that the Court will take up the case in its current term, which begins next week. This means a ruling could come by late June, which would be in the middle of the presidential campaign.
Experts believe the Court has several strong reasons to take up the case. First, the government would be making the request, and they rarely turn down such requests; and second, because two federal appeals courts issued different rulings in the case. The 6th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the mandate while the 11th Circuit ruled it to be unconstitutional. The 4th Circuit ruled that could not issue a decision until 2014.
This would put the law’s fate into the hands of the nine-member Supreme Court which is comprised of a slim conservative majority and four liberals. Court watchers say the ruling could come down to the position of two Republican appointees, Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Anthony Kennedy.
© All Rights Reserved, Living His Life Abundantly®/Women of Grace® http://www.womenofgrace.com
