Supreme Court Sets Briefing Schedule for Affordable Care Act Challenge - December 20, 2011

The U.S. Supreme Court has set the schedule for filing briefs regarding the health reform law ahead of the oral arguments, which are set for late March. NAPH, along with five other national hospital associations, filed amicus briefs supporting the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act in all of the major legal challenges to the law as they worked their way through the lower courts. NAPH is now working with the hospital industry to prepare briefs for the Supreme Court, which will accept separate briefings on each of the following issues: the constitutionality of the individual mandate, the severability of the individual mandate from the rest of the law should the mandate be found unconstitutional, the constitutionality of the Medicaid expansion and whether the Court is barred by a 19th century jurisdictional statute from hearing the challenge to the individual mandate until it is implemented in 2014. According to the schedule – set Dec. 8 – the hospital industry will file its first amicus brief on Jan. 6, 2012.

On Dec. 19, the Supreme Court set a 3-day schedule for oral arguments. On March 26, arguments around the Anti-Injunction Act will be heard for 1 hour. On March 27, arguments about the individual mandate – the main point of contention in the law – will be heard for 2 hours. On March 28, arguments around which pieces of the law should be struck down if the mandate is found unconstitutional will be heard for 90 minutes, and arguments on whether the law’s Medicaid expansion is constitutional will be heard for 1 hour.