The Supreme Court Considers the Individual Mandate

Main Topic

Conservatives Justices Take Hard Line on Healthcare Law ()

One major question raised by the Affordable Care Act is, just how much power does the so-called Commerce Clause give the government? The "mandate" to buy health insurance or pay a penalty if you don't came under harsh attack today in the US Supreme Court. Would it mean the federal government could require Americans to eat broccoli, exercise or buy funeral insurance? Does the Affordable Care Act regulate commerce or create it?  Is there any limit to government power?  Justices were demanding answers today. How well did the Obama Administration's lawyer respond?  What's next for the President's "signature legislative achievement?"

(Special thanks to Gideon Brower for production assistance.)

Guests:

• Jess Bravin: Wall Street Journal, @JessBravin
• Andrew Cohen: CBS Radio News, @CBSAndrew
• Dahlia Lithwick: Slate.com, @Dahlialithwick
• Carrie Severino: Judicial Crisis Network, @jcnseverino
• Ron Pollack: Families USA, @FamiliesUSA
• Aaron Carroll: Indiana University School of Medicine, @aaronecarroll

Links:

• New York Times poll on Americans and the 2010 healthcare law
• Bravin on conservative justices challenging government over health law
• Cohen on the justices and the individual mandate
• Slate on conservative justices' questions about the mandate
• Severino on today's arguments tilting against the mandate
• Families USA guide to the healthcare case before the Supreme Court
• Carroll on Medicaid expansion, the other important issue before the Supreme Court

Reporter's Notebook

Assad Assents to Peace Plan? ()

The United Nations says 9,000 civilians have now been killed in Syria's year-long conflict between the government and its domestic opponents. Now, former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, now special UN and Arab-League envoy to Syria, says the Assad regime has accepted a peace plan for resolving the national crisis. But in Homs and other centers of rebellion, the facts on the ground appear to tell a different story, as we hear from Borzou Daragahi, who reports from Beirut, Lebanon, for the Financial Times.

Guests:

• Borzou Daragahi: Financial Times, @borzou