Individual Mandate: Government Overreach Or Interstate Commerce?

On day two of legal arguments on the constitutionality of President Obama's 2010 health care reform law, the nine justices of the U.S. Supreme Court will consider whether the law overreaches by requiring that everyone have or buy health insurance.

The Obama administration argues that health care is something everyone will eventually need and requiring the uninsured to pay a penalty for not having it falls within the federal government's powers to regulate interstate commerce and collect taxes.

The 26 states and a private business organization suing to overturn the law claim the law wrongly compels people to buy something whether they use it or not.