Important Business Issues for the U.S. Supreme Court

October 3rd is the start of the new term for the Supreme Court. Each year the court accepts only a handful of cases that matter to small business. This year, two cases to watch include:

Obamacare

The NFIB and 26 states have filed a petition for certiorari for the case decided in the 11th Circuit; the Department of Justice has also filed a petition for the same case (see the write-up by the Heritage Network). This means that the Supreme Court is more likely than not to accept the case and hand down a ruling on the constitutionality of the personal mandate in the health care reform act by the end of June 2012.

Home Concrete

This case concerns whether the understatement of basis in property amounts to an omission from gross income that gives the IRS six years (instead of three years) to audit a return. (Those who are interested can read the petition for a writ of certiorari.) The government’s opening brief is due November 14. The case likely will be argued in January or February 2012. A decision will come some time before the end of the court’s term at the end of June 2012.

Before too long, there may be a few other business-related cases that the court will agree to review this term. I’ll keep you posted!