While SCOTUS may or may not wade into the health care law suits, Justice Stevens dropped a footnote in Graham County Soil & Water Conservation Dist. mentioning the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act in a footnote:
On March 23, 2010, the President signed into law the Patient Pro-tection and Affordable Care Act, Pub. L. 111–148, 124 Stat. 119. Section 10104(j)(2) of this legislation replaces the prior version of 31
U. S. C. §3730(e)(4) with new language. The legislation makes no mention of retroactivity, which would be necessary for its application to pending cases given that it eliminates petitioners’ claimed defense to a qui tam suit. See Hughes Aircraft Co. v. United States ex rel. Schumer, 520 U. S. 939, 948 (1997).
Also of note, Justice Sotomayor penned her first dissent, joined by Justice Breyer.
Many thanks to the eagle eyes of Adam U. for catching this gem.
And I wonder if SCOTUS will drop any references to Health Care in Comstock, a case that considers the power under the Commerce Clause in this case.