Now that the U.S. Supreme Court has heard arguments on President Barack Obama’s health care law, justices are expected to render a decision in June.

It will be interesting to see exactly how that works. Will the court throw out the individual mandate for people to have health insurance? Or might justices decide to keep parts of the law or scrap the whole thing?

What might the political fallout be if justices vote on strict party lines with the five Republican appointed justices holding a 5-4 majority?

Would that ramp up the partisan divide within the country more than it already is?

Or might any decision provide the opportunity for closure on the law and allow Congress to begin to work in a more bipartisan fashion?

Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Anthony Kennedy asked tough questions that left supporters of the health care law believing they may have some hope for the law to remain intact.

One thing for sure is after the decision is made, there will still be five more months until the November election. It remains to be seen how important the decision will be to determine who wins the presidency.

The last time the spotlight shined this brightly on the Supreme Court was in 2000, when justices made a decision on the Bush vs. Gore case involving the election in Florida, and that case had a direct impact on who became president.

Bipartisan attempt

U.S. Rep. Steven C. LaTourette and a group of bipartisan members of Congress offered a federal budget alternative that failed to get much traction before it was voted down Wednesday night.

The proposal aimed to lower the federal deficit by $4 trillion during the next 10 years. LaTourette, R-Bainbridge Township, said everything was on the table and the plan would reduce the deficit through spending cuts and tax reforms.

The House of Representatives did pass a budget offered by Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., but the Democrat-controlled Senate is not expected to consider the legislation.

At some point, Congress will have to pass a budget because there are issues that need to be dealt with, such as expiration of the Bush tax cuts, a one-year extension of the Social Security tax credit and increased spending on programs such as Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security.

Even though the LaTourette-backed legislation went down, perhaps it was a way for federal lawmakers to begin talking about a plan that can be passed?

Candidate forum

The Lake County TEA Party plans a series of candidate forums for the state and county offices for the Nov. 6 election. The first forum is for Ohio House of Representatives District 61 and will be held at 7 p.m. April 10 at Harvey High School in Painesville.

Party reorganization

Every two years after the primary election, the Democratic and Republican parties within the county meet to reorganize, which basically means they select a party chairman and/or chairwoman and other officers.

The Lake County Republican Party will have its meeting at 7 p.m. April 2 at the organization’s headquarters in downtown Painesville. The Lake County Democratic Party will meet at 9:30 a.m. April 7 at Bricklayers Hall in Mentor.

The Geauga County Democratic Party meeting is Monday night with dinner at 6:15 p.m. followed by the meeting at 7:15 p.m. at party headquarters in Newbury Township. The Geauga County Republican Party will meet at 7 p.m. April 10 at Munson Township Hall.

Might there be any changes in top party leadership? For the Lake Democrats, its Chairman Tom Tagliamonte; for the Lake GOP, it’s Dale Fellows. For the Geauga GOP, it’s Edward Ryder; for the Geauga Democrats, it’s Janet Carson.

Fundies

n Fundraiser for Susan McGuinness, candidate for Ohio House of Representatives District 61, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. April 16 at Match Works Tavern in Mentor. See Eddy Eckart or Ray McGuinness.

John Arthur Hutchison

JHutchison@News-Herald.com

Twitter: @newsheraldjah