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The Supreme Court on Tuesday allotted an extra 30 minutes to oral arguments on the health care reform law, giving another half an hour to the debate over whether a federal tax law should prevent a ruling this year.

The decision bumps up the total argument time to six hours over three days in late March.

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The federal government, 26 states and a small-business group jointly requested that the court spend 90 minutes, instead of 60 minutes, on whether the tax law would prevent the court from ruling on the constitutionality of the mandate until at least 2015.

It’s a pivotal issue because if the court finds that the tax law, called the Anti-Injunction Act, applies to the health law, the justices would likely throw out the case against the individual mandate. Anyone who wanted to sue would have to wait to file a lawsuit until after they file their taxes in April 2015.

With the extra 30 minutes on tax law, the oral arguments will break down this way:

• Anti-Injunction Act: 90 minutes

• Individual mandate: 120 minutes

• Severability: 90 minutes

• Medicaid: 60 minutes

This article first appeared on POLITICO Pro at 10:31 a.m. on February 21, 2012.

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SCOTUS: Extra half hour for debate