Justice Breyer expects health challenge

Justice Stephen G. Breyer predicted Thursday that the Supreme Court will one day be forced to pass judgment on the constitutionality of President Obama's just-passed health care overhaul plan. Justice Breyer told a congressional panel that the massive health care law, like most major federal legislation, is a good candidate for high court review. Some 20 states, virtually all with Republican attorneys general, have already joined a suit seeking to challenge the law in federal court, arguing that its mandate that Americans get health insurance is unconstitutional. The White House and congressional Democrats insist the plan passes constitutional muster. Justice Breyer said the court's relatively light caseload in recent years will soon be a thing of the past, given the issues such as health care that may come before it...more