High Court extends time allocated for health law arguments

The Supreme Court on Tuesday added an extra 30 minutes to the time provided for oral arguments, bumping up the total to six hours over three days.

Politico: Supreme Court Allows Extra Half Hour For Arguments
The Supreme Court on Tuesday allotted an extra 30 minutes to oral arguments on the health care reform law, giving another half an hour to the debate over whether a federal tax law should prevent a ruling this year. The decision bumps up the total argument time to six hours over three days in late March (Haberkorn, 2/21).

The Associated Press: High Court Health Care Argument Extended To 6 Hrs
The Supreme Court has added another 30 minutes to upcoming arguments over President Barack Obama's health care overhaul. The sessions now will span six hours over three days in late March. The justices on Tuesday set aside 30 more minutes, 90 minutes overall, for discussion of the effect on the health care case of a federal law intended to make tax collections run smoothly. That law forces people who want to challenge taxes to pay them first (2/21).

In other news from the high court -

National Journal: Supreme Court Still Considering Whether To Take Gene Patenting Case
The Supreme Court has delayed a decision on whether to hear a case that could affect the entire biotech industry -- one asking whether Myriad Genetics can own the patents on two breast cancer genes. Because it had been scheduled for a conference discussion by the justices earlier this month, a decision about whether to consider the case was expected on Tuesday. But the Court declined to accept or reject the case, suggesting that the justices will want to discuss it again (Sanger-Katz and McCarthy, 2/22).