NU Online News Service, Dec. 20, 3:01 p.m.EST

The Supreme Court will hear arguments on the constitutionalityof the healthcare reform law and other issues pertaining to it forthree days starting March 26.

Analysts and lawyers do not expect a decision in the case untillate June.

The hearings will open March 26 with a one-hour debate on thethreshold issues of whether a federal law called theAnti-Injunction Act makes challenges to the mandate premature until2015.

George Patton Jr., an appellate lawyer with Bose McKinney &Evans LLP in Washington, D.C. and Indianapolis, explains thatanti-injunction deals with whether the Court must wait until a taxis imposed on those who don't want to buy individual insurance, andthen a lawsuit filed, before it can act on the case. This meansthat a decision on the constitutionality of the individual mandatemay have to be delayed until 2015.

The next day, according to a schedule released by the High CourtMonday, the judges will hear two hours of argument on the centralissue of the constitutionality of mandating that citizens buyhealth insurance or pay a penalty. The provision is often calledthe individual mandate; the announcement called it the minimumcoverage provision.

On March 28, the court will hear arguments on two other issuesrelated to the law.

It will first consider for 90 minutes whether the individualmandate may be severed from the balance of the statute. That iswhat the United States Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit heldwhen it struck down the provision.

The court will then hear an hour of argument as to whetherCongress can constitutionally require that states expand theirMedicaid services, as mandated by the law.

Challengers, including 26 states, contend that Congress cannotuse its interstate commerce powers to regulate citizens who choosenot to participate in the health-insurance market.

The core constitutional issue revolves around the CommerceClause.