The Supreme Court will begin hearing oral arguments today on the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act, the landmark healthcare reform bill signed by President Obama two years ago. Part of the case will focus on the so-called individual mandate, the part of the law that requires most people buy health insurance by 2014 or pay a tax penalty. The Supreme Court is expected to hear six hours of oral arguments spread over three days. It will be the longest argument heard by the court in almost 45 years. The case is expected to have huge implications for the nation and the 2012 elections.

Tom Goldstein, publisher of the SCOTUS blog: “This is the intersection of law, politics and human life, that we have a massive constitutional question on the President’s signature achievement about something that affects every single American, and it’s all wrapped up in one case in the run-up to a presidential election. … I don’t think anybody really knows how it will play out politically. We do know that it will get a lot of political attention, because the court is going to decide the case in late June, as the fight between President Obama and the likely nominee, Mitt Romney, is really engaging.”

The Supreme Court decision is being closely followed by many who could benefit from the law. Robyn Martin is the mother of a seven-month-old son who suffers from a serious heart condition.

Robyn Martin: “We need the Supreme Court to uphold the Affordable Care Act, because we need this little boy to continue to have healthcare without having to worry about hitting a limit, without having to add up each one of our visits to see how close we’re going to get to an arbitrary limit that a health insurance company sets for us.”