How 'Obamacare' Could Lose in the Supreme Court (The Daily Beast)

The Supreme Court announced yesterday that it will rule on the constitutionality of the President's health care reform act, allotting a lengthy five and a half hours for oral argument, more than five times the length of a normal hearing. The event is expected to take place in March 2012, and while a number of legal issues will be addressed, the most important is the individual mandate, the piece of the law that requires every American to purchase health insurance or pay a fine. At the heart of the debate will be one question: What are the limits to Congress's authority under the Commerce Clause? Defendants have, up to this point, struggled to find a persuasive answer. While lower courts have been split on the final ruling — some have upheld the mandate, others have not — the Supreme Court will likely require an airtight answer in order to rule in the mandate's favor.

Read the story.