The 7 Most Telling Moments from Monday March 26 Health Law Supreme Court Arguments

1. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg suggested that the individual mandate isn’t a tax — and therefore isn’t affected by the Anti-Injunction Act — because it’s not designed to raise money for the government
2. Chief Justice John Roberts noted that the Anti-Injunction Act didn’t stop the Supreme Court from ruling on the constitutionality of Social Security
3. Justice Elena Kagan pointed out that in some places in the ACA, Congress explicitly stated when the Anti-Injunction Act would apply —and that it didn’t say so where the individual mandate is concerned
4. Justice Stephen Breyer made it clear he did his homework — or at least he had his clerk do so
5. Justice Samuel Alito might agree that the Anti-Injunction Act doesn’t apply — but he still took issue with some of the administration’s semantics
6. Roberts noted the point of the lawsuit is “to prevent the collection of penalties.” But he wondered whether that applied, given who faces the mandate, who’s exempt & what kind of penalties apply
7. Justice Antonin Scalia had a long exchange with Robert Long, the outside lawyer appointed to argue that the Anti-Injunction Act applies

Source: Politico
Source URL: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0312/74487_Page2.html

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