WASHINGTON (AP) — On the first of three days of arguments on the health care law, Supreme Court justices and lawyers will focus on a basic question: Should we even be here?
The answer isn't simple.
The highly technical issue is whether an obscure, 145-year-old law means it's too soon for courts to hear challenges to the new mandate that people have insurance or pay a penalty. The Obama administration and the states and businesses opposing the health care law all agree on this: They all want the justices to decide now.
But one lower appeals court embraced the argument that court challenges are premature, so the justices assigned lawyer Robert Long to argue the position that courts can't rule yet on mandatory insurance.
The main arguments Monday:
—Long says the mandate to carry health insurance or pay a penalty is in essence a tax. He says the Anti-Injunction Act prohibits courts from hearing challenges to a tax before it's been collected, and the IRS won't begin enforcing the penalty until after tax day 2015.
