The U.S. Supreme Court began hearing arguments Wednesday in King v. Burwell, the case that will determine whether people in all states will receive health insurance subsidies under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
A decision is expected at the very end of the Court's term in June, when it typically announces opinions on the biggest cases.
Although a decision is likely months away, justices' concerns and opinions on the issue became clearer as arguments got underway.
After nearly an hour and a half of oral arguments, Justices Elena Kagan, Sonia Sotomayor, Stephen Breyer and Ruth Bader Ginsburg "all seemed like solid votes for the federal government, defending the subsidies," while challengers "could clearly count on votes" from Justices Antonin Scalia and Samuel Alito, according to live coverage of the arguments from SCOTUSblog. Chief Justice John Roberts asked some questions, but did not give a clear indication of which way he was leaning. And Justice Anthony Kennedy indicated by his questions that he could be leaning more toward the government, according to the blog.
The blog notes that even without the chief justice's vote, the high court could still end up ruling in favor of the government, if the government is able to get Justice Kennedy's vote.
It seems very clear that Justices Kagan, Sotomayor, Breyer and Ginsburg are skeptical of the petitioners, and two justices — Scalia and Alito — are skeptical the other way, according to Mark Rust, managing partner of the Chicago office of Barnes & Thornburg, who was remote in Chicago during the arguments Wednesday, and reviewed the transcript when it was released.
He believes Justice Kennedy asked very good, insightful questions, although those questions were not particularly telling. "You can't very much read into his questions. He had an open mind and was asking good questions on both sides," Mr. Rust says.
According to the SCOTUS blog, Justices Alito and Scalia seemed to acknowledge the dire consequences that could follow a ruling against the states, by suggesting ways to alleviate it. Justice Alito reportedly said the high court could put off its ruling to allow time to adjust, and Justice Scalia reportedly said Congress would take action and fix it, the blog reads.
At the end of the day, though, Mr. Rust finds it difficult to predict the outcome of the case.
But he contends the most interesting person to watch in the case is Justice Roberts. "He could easily go either way with this," he added.