Supreme Court won't hear early health care challenge

The Associated Press

WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court has turned down the first preliminary challenge to President Barack Obama's health care overhaul.

The decision yesterday to reject an appeal from a former Republican state lawmaker in California was no surprise because a federal appeals court has yet to consider the case. The high court almost never reviews cases before the issues have been aired in lower courts.

Of more significance is the sign that all the justices took part in rejecting the appeal. New Justice Elena Kagan refused to say during her confirmation hearings whether she would take part in the court's deliberations over the health care law. Kagan was Obama's solicitor general before joining the court.

The court has noted Kagan's absence in more than two dozen other cases, suggesting that she voted on the health care appeal. Kagan has stepped aside from cases in which she was involved as a Justice Department official before joining the court.

Justice Clarence Thomas also apparently voted on the case. Some critics have called on Thomas to step aside from the health care cases because his wife, Virginia Thomas, has been an outspoken opponent of the law in her role as founder of the conservative advocacy group Liberty Central.

In another medical-related case, the court seemed divided on whether student doctors are students or employees when it comes to collecting Social Security taxes.

The high court Monday heard arguments from the Mayo Foundation of Rochester, Minn., and the University of Minnesota, which says the IRS shouldn't have required the Mayo Clinic to collect the taxes on medical residents.

Medical residents, who are studying to be doctors, routinely work in hospitals and pay income taxes. But Mayo officials say residents fall under a Social Security tax exemption for student employees whose work is part of their education.

The Treasury Department took away that dispensation for medical students who work more than 40 hours per week.