AlHijjah 18, 1432, Nov 14, 2011, SPA -- The US Supreme Court agreed Monday to hear achallenge to President Barack Obama's signature health care overhaullaw, which has faced a series of legal suits since being passed lastyear. The court said it would hear three separate challenges - on appeals from the federal government, a group of 26 states and a business group - to the law during five and half hours of oral arguments early next year. Legal challenges to the health care mandate have largely centred around the mandate that requires citizens to purchase health insurance and state governments have argued the measure violates their rights to regulate the industry. The Supreme Court will decide whether Congress overstepped its bounds in passing the law, whether the rest of the law can stand without the insurance requirement and whether the courts can rule on parts of the law before it has been fully enacted. A US appeals court in Atlanta, Georgia, found earlier this year ina case brought by justice officials in 26 states that parts of the law were unconstitutional, but other courts ruling in separate challenges to the law have disagreed. The White House welcomed the Supreme Court's acceptance of the case and has maintained that the law would hold up to legal scrutiny.
