Supreme Court watch: redistricting commissions and federal health care exchanges are the focus of two important cases now in the hands of Supreme Court justices.

• Author: Soronen, Lisa

The Supreme Court heard oral arguments recently in two cases critical to states that challenge the authority of redistricting commissions and the legality of tax credits offered through federally run health insurance exchanges.

Arizona State Legislature v. Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission

Even if this case wasn't the biggest involving legislative authority that the U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear in a long time, the oral argument was bound to be interesting.

It featured two well-matched opponents, former Solicitor General Paul Clement, arguing for the Arizona Legislature, and former Solicitor General Seth Waxman, arguing for Arizona's redistricting commission.

At issue is Arizona's Proposition 106--a citizen's initiative passed in 2000 that transferred all federal redistricting authority from the Legislature to an independent commission. The court will decide whether it violates the U.S. Constitution's Elections Clause that states the "times, places and manner of holding elections for senators and representatives, shall be prescribed in each state by the Legislature thereof."

This case will be won or lost depending on how the court interprets the phrase "by the legislature thereof." Does it mean the body of the legislature or legislative power in general?

Although the oral argument is hardly a foolproof indicator of what the court will rule, it appeared that a majority of the justices were leaning in favor of the Arizona Legislature.

Justice Antonin Scalia asked Waxman where in the U.S. Constitution the framers used the term "legislature" and didn't mean a state's governing body.

Justice Anthony Kennedy, noting that legislatures, rather than voters, selected all U.S. senators up until passage of the 17th Amendment in 1913, commented that history "works very much against" the commission's arguments.

The Supreme Court will decide the case by the end of June.

King v. Burwell

For Justice Anthony Kennedy, it was his questions. For Chief Justice John Roberts, it was his silence.

The Supreme Court also heard arguments in the second case to reach the high court on federal health care reform. The justices will decide whether the subsidies offered to middle- and low-income purchasers of insurance through federally run health insurance exchanges are legal. Challengers argue the law's wording--"established by the state"--limits the tax credits to state-run exchanges, even though the...