Attorney General Schneider Issues Statement on U.S. Supreme Court Decision to Hear Federal Health Care Challenge

November 14, 2011

AUGUSTA ? Attorney General William J. Schneider issued the following statement today regarding the U.S. Supreme Court?s decision to grant certiorari and hear challenges to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act:

?I am pleased and encouraged that the Supreme Court today announced it will hear challenges to the health care law. The Court granted writs of certiorari in three cases, including the one in which Maine is a party. The Court allotted five and one-half hours of argument time to cover four separate issues. We look forward to defending our position that the individual mandate is unconstitutional, that forcing the states to substantially expand their Medicaid programs or risk losing all of their Medicaid funding is unconstitutionally coercive, that the Anti-Injunction Act does not apply, and that the entire law fails if one part fails.

?We anticipate that by June 2012 we will have a Supreme Court decision that preserves individual rights and state sovereignty. The sooner we can have these issues decided, the better it will be for Maine and the entire country.?