Oral arguments will begin in February or March and there should be a ruling by June.
A key issue to be considered by the high court’s nine justices is whether the “individual mandate” section of the law — requiring nearly all Americans to buy health insurance by 2014 or face financial penalties — is an improper exercise of federal authority. Various states have argued that if that linchpin provision is found unconstitutional, the entire law will have to be scrapped.
