Obama administration asks high court to rule on health law

The Justice Department's formal appeal puts to rest speculation about the administration's legal strategy. In addition, Republican state attorneys general separately asked the Supreme Court for a verdict early next year. Many observers say the new timeline will make the court's ultimate finding a factor in the presidential election.

The New York Times: Supreme Court Is Asked To Rule On Health Care
The Obama administration asked the Supreme Court on Wednesday to hear a case concerning the 2010 health care overhaul law. The development, which came unexpectedly fast, makes it all but certain that the court will soon agree to hear one or more cases involving challenges to the law, with arguments by the spring and a decision by June, in time to land in the middle of the 2012 presidential campaign (Liptak, 9/28).

Los Angeles Times: U.S. Seeks Supreme Court Review Of Health Care Law
The Obama administration is asking the Supreme Court to rule on the constitutionality of the federal health care overhaul sooner rather than later, with the Justice Department announcing that it will file a petition Wednesday asking the court to take the case. … Earlier this week, the department declined to seek review of the full appeals court of that decision, signaling that it was ready for the case to be heard by the justices. Technically, the administration had several weeks before it had to file its petition to the high court and the accelerated timetable suggests that it's eager for a final determination on the legality of the controversial law (Oliphant, 9/28).

The Associated Press: Election-Year Ruling Looms For Health Overhaul
The health care law affecting virtually every American is sure to figure prominently in President Barack Obama's campaign for re-election. Republican contenders are already assailing it in virtually every debate and speech. The administration on Wednesday formally appealed a ruling by the federal appeals court in Atlanta that struck down the law's core requirement that Americans buy health insurance or pay a penalty beginning in 2014. The administration said the appeals court decision declaring the law's central provision unconstitutional was "fundamentally flawed" (Sherman, 9/29).

The Wall Street Journal: Health Overhaul Heads To Justices
The administration's move puts an end to months of speculation about its strategy in the case. … While the likely mid-campaign timing of the decision may not be ideal for the White House, any attempt to push the ruling back into 2013 would have been risky, too. Opponents of the law were already calling for a quick Supreme Court ruling, so a slow-walking strategy would have made the administration look less confident -; and the Supreme Court might have chosen to take the case quickly anyway (Kendall and Meckler, 9/29).

Los Angeles Times: Fight Over Health Care Law Heads Toward Supreme Court
The constitutional clash over President Obama's national health care law moved closer to the Supreme Court on Wednesday, when both the administration and Republican state attorneys separately asked the justices to hand down a verdict early next year. … Now that both sides have asked the high court to decide the Florida lawsuit, the justices are almost certain to vote to hear the case early next year (Savage, 9/28).

Politico: Obama's Health Reform Law Rests With The Supreme Court
It could be one of the smartest political moves the Obama administration has made -; or a historic mistake that could kill not just the health care reform law but the president's chances for reelection, too. By asking the Supreme Court to rule so quickly on the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act, the administration is taking a huge risk that the justices will rule against the law right in the middle of the 2012 race -; either striking down the whole law or just slicing out the requirement for nearly all Americans to buy health coverage (Nather, 9/28).

The Washington Post: Justice Dept. Asks Supreme Court To Review Health Care Law
The administration said it was confident the act would be upheld as a valid exercise of federal power, just as Social Security and the Civil Rights Act were. If the court agrees to hear the case in the term that begins Monday, it would almost certainly render its decision by the end of deliberations in June (Barnes, 9/28).

NPR: Early Supreme Court Review Of Health Care Law Could Impact 2012 Race
The Affordable Care Act always promised to be a hot-button issue in the 2012 presidential campaign. But it could loom even larger, now that the Obama administration has asked the Supreme Court to take the case, making very likely a high-court decision in June only months before Election Day (James, 9/28).

Bloomberg: Obama Lawyers Appeal To U.S. High Court For Ruling On Health Care Overhaul
President Barack Obama's administration asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review last year's landmark health care law, a move that may lead to a ruling months before the 2012 presidential election. Calling the issue "a matter of grave national importance," administration lawyers today appealed a lower court ruling that declared part of the law unconstitutional. Earlier in the day, 26 states filed their own appeal, saying the lower court should have gone further and voided the whole statute, which was championed by Obama (Stohr, 9/28).

Reuters: Obama's Health Care Law Appealed to Supreme Court
The Obama administration on Wednesday asked the U.S. Supreme Court to back the centerpiece of Barack Obama's sweeping health care overhaul -; the requirement that all Americans have health insurance. The appeal was largely expected as a high court ruling against the law could be a fatal blow to the president's signature domestic policy achievement and could have major implications for his re-election bid (Vicini, 9/28).

Modern Healthcare: Justice Department, Critics Appeal Reform Law to Supreme Court
The Justice Department joined 26 state governments, a national employers' rights group and two private citizens in asking the U.S. Supreme Court to rule on the constitutionality of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. A total of three competing writs of certiorari were filed Wednesday with the high court -; two from groups that want the health care reform law thrown out, and one from the Justice Department arguing that Congress had the power to pass the sweeping law in March 2010 (Carlson, 9/28).

McClatchy: Obama Asks Supreme Court To Settle Constitutionality Of Health Care Law
The Obama administration on Wednesday formally asked the Supreme Court to review its controversial health care law, a move that's likely to set up a blockbuster election-year decision. Hot on the heels of an appellate court defeat, the Justice Department late Wednesday afternoon filed the 34-page petition urging the court to uphold the law's ambitious mandate that individuals be covered by insurance (Boyle, 9/28).

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Georgia, Other States Appeal Health Care Ruling To High Court
Georgia, 25 other states and three other plaintiffs have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to hear a challenge to the national health care overhaul law, state Attorney General Sam Olens said Wednesday. In August, the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, in a 2-1 decision, struck down the law's individual mandate provision. But the court also left the rest of the sweeping reform law intact, and that is what the states are appealing to the high court. The Obama administration recently decided not to ask the entire 10-member 11th Circuit to reconsider the three-judge panel's ruling (Rankin, 9/28).

CNN: White House Is Confident Supreme Court Will Uphold Health Care Law
The Obama administration is putting on a confident face when it comes to the debate being waged in federal courts over the health care law. In a blog post explaining why the Justice Department is formally asking the Supreme Court to take up the matter this term, Deputy Senior White House Advisor Stephanie Cutter writes she is confident the high court will overturn a recent federal court's decision that held the law's mandate unconstitutional (Mooney, 9/28).