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If the Individual Mandate Portion of the Law is Unconstitutional, Can the Rest of the Law Survive?

Washington, DC
Sunday, March 25, 2012

On the Supreme Court's last day of oral arguments on the health care law, the Court considered whether the rest of the law can stand if the individual mandate provision is found unconstitutional.

Opponents of the law contend that if the individual mandate is stricken, the entire Health Care law should be struck down as well. The government argued that if the mandate is considered unconstitutional, only two major provisions of the law would have to fall, and the rest of the law can stand.

An amicus counsel hired by the court argued a third position: If the mandate is struck down, all of the other provisions of the law can stand.

90-minutes of Arguments:
30 minutes: Deputy Solicitor General Edwin Kneedler
30 minutes: 26 states & National Federation of Independent Business (Clement/Carvin)
30 minutes: Bartow Farr, Arguing ACA can stand if the individual mandate falls

Updated: Thursday, March 29, 2012 at 11:47am (ET)

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