The U.S. Supreme Court will hear a challenge to President Obama’s signature law on health care, it said Monday in an announcement that has nearly as much impact on partisan politics as the final decision has on the law itself.

The challenge in the case, brought by 26 states out of Florida, is based on the constitutionality of the individual mandate in the law, which requires that all Americans purchase health insurance.

The nine-member court will also look at severability, meaning if the mandate falls, could the rest of the law survive since it is primarily built on the revenues collected by forcing people to buy health care.

The court is also folding in an additional case on the tax implications of the law.

The case is one that all sides want heard. Striking down the law “denies Congress the broad deference it is due in enacting laws to address the nation’s most pressing economic problems,” Solicitor General Donald Verrelli wrote in his filing asking the high court to hear the appeal.

But hearing the case this session — arguments could come in March — means that a ruling will come in June — in the heat of the 2012 election cycle.

Some argue that a defeat for Obama would be as beneficial as a victory since it would take away an economic and philosophical argument that Republicans have used to bash the law that will impact roughly 18 percent of the nation’s annual gross domestic product.

If the mandate is wiped off the map but the law itself isn’t, the president would also be able to promote aspects that most Americans say they accept, including leaving 26 year olds on their parents insurance and not allowing insurers to reject clients with pre-existing conditions.

(Source: Fox News)