Challenges to health law take center stage with appellate court action

Today the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Virginia will hear arguments in two cases challenging the constitutionality of the health overhaul.

Los Angeles Times: Health Care Law Showdowns Loom In Appeals Courts
President Obama's health care law faces a series of challenges in three appeals courts starting Tuesday as Republican lawyers from 27 states will urge the courts to strike down the law as unconstitutional. In a sign of the high stakes and the partisan divide, one case will feature a rare courtroom clash between the Obama administration's top appellate lawyer and his counterpart from the George W. Bush administration (Savage, 5/10).

Politico Pro: All Dem Panel For Health Lawsuit Appeal
The three judges presiding over today's oral arguments in two health care reform cases were all nominated by Democratic presidents. Judge Diana Gribbon Motz, the presiding judge, was nominated by President Clinton. Judges Andre M. Davis and James A. Wynn, Jr. were nominated by President Obama (Haberkorn, 5/10). 

The Washington Post: Virginia Suit Over Federal Health Care Law Go Before Appellate Panel
A three-judge appellate court panel will hear oral arguments Tuesday morning over the constitutionality of the nation's health care overhaul as lawsuits challenging the federal law proceed up the legal ladder before most likely landing at the U.S. Supreme Court. More than 30 lawsuits have been filed across the country challenging the law. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit will hear debate at a Richmond courthouse in two cases (Helderman, 5/9).

The Associated Press: Court In Va. To Hear US Health Care Law Challenges
President Barack Obama's health care overhaul will get its first oral arguments in federal appeals court Tuesday when a three-judge panel hears two Virginia cases — one that upheld the law and another that struck down its key provision. Nine lawsuits challenging the law are pending on appeal, but the Virginia cases before the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals are the first to reach the oral argument stage. Thirteen cases have been dismissed with no appeal filed, and nine are pending in district courts, according to federal officials (5/9).

Bloomberg: Fight Over Obama Health Care Law Reaches First Of Three U.S. Appeals Courts
A U.S. court in Virginia will hear the first appellate arguments on whether requiring Americans to buy health insurance is, as a lower court judge ruled, the same as ordering them to buy broccoli or a Cadillac. The Justice Department will seek today to persuade three judges in Richmond, Virginia, that President Barack Obama's health care overhaul, which mandates most Americans obtain insurance, is constitutional. In back-to-back arguments, the panel will review two rulings — one upholding the law and the other striking down part of it (Schoenberg, 5/10).

CNN: Appellate Court Set For Health Care Review
A federal court in Richmond, Virginia, is scheduled to conduct the nation's first appellate review of President Barack Obama's health care overhaul Tuesday, giving the controversial legislation a major legal test (Mears, 5/9).

Fox News: Appeals Court Ready To Consider Challenge To Obama Health Law
A couple dozen legal challenges to the controversial law are pending across the country but the 4th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in Richmond, Va., will be the first appellate court to hear arguments in a pair of cases. Depending on how quickly the judges issue their rulings — and the 4th Circuit is well known in legal circles for its speedy ways — these cases could also become the first to make it to the Supreme Court (Ross, 5/9).

Politico: 2012 Battlefield: The Supreme Court
Despite a concerted drive by their ideological critics, two Supreme Court justices - Elena Kagan and Clarence Thomas - signaled late last month that they have no intention of recusing themselves from the court's all but inevitable consideration of the Obama administration's new health care law (Vogel and Raju, 5/10).