Tax Fight A Prelude To Supreme Court Fireworks

The U.S. Supreme Court signaled Monday that it likely will resolve the constitutional challenge to the Obama health care overhaul, sidestepping the procedural issues that could derail the case until 2015.

The first of the three days of arguments proved, as expected, to be arcane, dense and probably unimportant in the long run. At issue was whether the court could decide the constitutional challenge to the health care law at this point, since to do so would violate the general rule requiring people to pay their taxes first, and then litigate any objection later. That rule was enacted by Congress in 1867 to ensure a steady flow of revenue to run the country. But the court has allowed exceptions to the rule, and during Monday’s arguments, the justices seemed inclined to view this case as one of those exceptions.

Because the Obama administration and the challengers want the case resolved now, the justices appointed lawyer Robert Long to defend the proposition that the court should wait to hear any challenge until a penalty is paid in 2015, after the individual mandate kicks in.