Minority Leader Pelosi backs call for Supreme Court to televise healthcare case arguments

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said that Supreme Court arguments over the healthcare law should be televised. “When the Affordable Care Act is placed before the highest court in our country, all Americans will have a stake in the debate; therefore, all Americans should have access to it,” Minority Leader Pelosi said. Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) also backed C-SPAN’s request for a televised hearing.

The Supreme Court has never opened its proceedings to cameras. But the healthcare lawsuit is also the first time since the invention of video that the court has scheduled nearly six hours of oral arguments. The lengthy hearing raises the distinct possibility that a sitting president’s signature legislative achievement could be ruled unconstitutional in the midst of his reelection campaign. The court is expected to divide oral arguments over two days. One day will focus on the individual mandate and the Anti-Injunction Act, which could bar a ruling on the merits. The other would be set aside for the healthcare law’s Medicaid expansion and whether other parts of the law must also be struck down if the mandate is found unconstitutional.