Supreme Court to hear health care law

WASHINGTON - The monumental fight over a health care law that touches all Americans and divides them sharply comes before the U.S. Supreme Court this week. The justices will decide whether to kill or keep the largest expansion in the nation's social safety net in more than four decades.

Two years and three days after President Barack Obama signed into law a health care overhaul aimed at extending medical insurance to more than 30 million Americans, the high court begins three days of hearings Monday over the law's validity.

The challenge from 26 states and a small business group puts the court smack in the middle of a heavily partisan fight over the president's major domestic accomplishment and a presidential election campaign in which all his Republican challengers oppose the law.