Lawyer opposing health law is a familiar face to the justices

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By Kevin Sack / New York Times News Service
Published: October 27. 2011 4:00AM PST

WASHINGTON — During his seven years in President George W. Bush’s Justice Department, Paul Clement appeared before the Supreme Court 49 times, defended the administration’s detention of terrorism suspects, fought off challenges to the McCain- Feingold campaign finance law and validated the prosecution of medical marijuana growers in a landmark commerce case.

But the docket that Clement has compiled in the private sector as one of Washington’s leading appellate litigators may situate him even closer to the center of national discourse.

He is now defending Arizona’s new law against illegal immigration and Congress’ prohibition against interstate recognition of same-sex marriages. And if, as expected, the Supreme Court announces that it will hear a challenge to last year’s health care law, it seems increasingly likely that it will be Clement who argues that the Affordable Care Act — President Barack Obama’s signature domestic achievement — is unconstitutional.

This week and last, Clement, 45, filed briefs supporting the Obama administration’s request that the court accept his health care challenge from among the several pending before it. He is lead counsel in the high-profile Florida case filed by Republican governors and attorneys general from 26 states. In August, he and his co-counsel, Michaael Carvin, won the only appellate ruling to invalidate the act’s keystone provision, which will require most Americans to obtain medical insurance, starting in 2014.

That opinion, from the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, in Atlanta, directly contradicts a ruling from the 6th Circuit in Cincinnati, and both rulings, along with others, have been appealed to the Supreme Court.

“I do think there’s a good chance that the court will take the 11th Circuit case,â€