Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Health Reform Oral Arguments - Kind of a Big Deal

By now, I'm sure you've heard that the Supreme Court has scheduled hearings for the landmark Health Reform case in March. I'm sure you've also read that 5.5 hours have been allotted for said oral arguments. If not, 1) what rock are you living under? and 2) go here, here, and here. But a large chunk of the population spends 5.5 hours watching tv each day. Think about how much mind-numbing, eye-crossing CNN, Kardashians, Snookie and the Situation, Leno and Rachel Ray is consumed. So what's the big deal anyway?
Photos were not allowed, but this is what the interior of The Courtroom looks like from a model on display in the Holding Hall. Imagine being on the hot seat there. Intimidating much?
Let me help put this in perspective. Typically, the Supreme Court allows 1 hour of oral argument per case with each side given 30 minutes to present. I had the privilege of sitting in on a SCOTUS case; and let me tell you, half an hour is a fairly decent amount of time to talk (or rather...to be skewered and grilled by the justices). The justices, in most cases, have already made up their minds purely based off of briefs and research submitted prior to oral presentations and use that time to steer the presentation along their own agenda to make a point and perhaps sway other justices to decide a certain way. With that being said, 5.5 hours is FIVE and a half TIMES greater than the usual. Even one of the most important and controversial modern cases, Bush v. Gore, did not come close. That case single-handedly determined who the president of the United States would be, and oral arguments were limited to merely 90 minutes (see video). 90 minutes for the presidency compared to an epic 330 minutes for Health Reform. Hmmm.

Why does the Court need this much time considering they usually have their minds made up? Is this bad news for President Obama, Democrats, liberals, and supporters of Health Reform everywhere, because maybe it shows that the Supreme Court will not have an open and shut case? Or is the Court just attempting to have a fair presentation of extremely complex issues? What are your thoughts?



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