A legal challenge to Obamacare is on a fast track to the U.S. Supreme Court, and the chief business plaintiff is hopeful for victory before the 2012 November elections.
When the U.S. Department of Justice opted not to seek an en banc review of an 11th Circuit panel's decision striking down the law's individual mandate, a Supreme Court hearing was virtually assured for the upcoming session.
"We would expect oral arguments by early 2012 and a decision in June," said Gregory Katsas, co-counsel for National Federation of Independent Business and partner in the law firm Jones Day.
With the Atlanta-based 11th Circuit rejecting Obamacare's requirement that all Americans purchase health insurance, the 6th Circuit upholding the law, and another challenge pending in the 4th Circuit, the Supreme Court has long been expected to weigh in. Now the projected timetable could have a significant bearing on next year's elections.
Karen Harned, executive director of NFIBs Small Business Legal Center, said Wednesday that businesses are eager for a verdict.
"The first year under Obamacare has been very bad for small business," she said, noting a July survey of NFIB members showed one in eight companies has either had its health plans canceled or is in the process of cancellation.
"A Kaiser survey yesterday shows unprecedented premium increases," Harned added.
"Already this is hitting America's job creators. We're very happy there will be a ruling next year. We're eager to get a final resolution," she said.
Randy Barnett, a Georgetown University law professor, said the legal issue comes down to whether Congress would have passed the health-care law without the individual mandate -- the law's key funding mechanism.
That is a crucial question because the 11th Circuit panel disagreed with NFIB and 26 states, led by Florida, by saying that the individual mandate was "severable" from the rest of the law. In so ruling, the panel determined that the law could stand, even if the individual mandate were unconstitutional.
But Barnett argues that Obamacare "wouldn't have even gotten a floor vote" without the individual mandate. He called the mandate an "insurance scheme that takes money from healthy young people and puts it in the pockets of insurance companies."
--
Contact Kenric Ward at kward@sunshinestatenews.com or at (772) 801-5341.
