Top Judiciary GOPer Signals Health Care Could Be Next Court Nominee’s Litmus Test

The U.S. Supreme Court building and President Barack Obama
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Sen. Jeff Sessions, the ranking member of the Judiciary Committee tasked with hearings for President Obama’s Supreme Court nominee, today offered a strong hint about the direction Republicans may take toward the president’s choice.

Sessions (R-AL) used his statement to criticize Obama’s “empathy” standard for selecting Sonia Sotomayor last year for the high court.

But one sentence especially stood out: “There is much at stake, as the court’s interpretation of the Constitution in the coming years could significantly affect the implementation of domestic polices approved by the president and Congress over the past year.”

As nearly 20 states are suing the federal government over health care, Sessions seems to be laying down a marker on big legislation passed under Obama since he took office in January 2009. Sessions’ home state of Alabama is among those which joined a lawsuit challenging the Constitutionality of health care reform.

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