Said Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy during argument last week: “We would be exercising the judicial power if one Act was — one provision was stricken and the others remained to impose a risk on insurance companies that Congress had never intended."
When the (so-called) "moderate" Justice is more worried about "risk on insurance companies" than on people with pre-existing conditions, you know the game is over.
It has been all along anyway. Can one even imagine Antonin Scalia, whatever his true views, upholding the main achievement of the hated Obama administration? Can one imagine Justice Roberts doing anything except supporting the corporate elite that run insurance companies?
The vote against health care reform will be 5-4. The only question is whether or not they'll go whole hog and declare Medicaid unconstitutional as well.
Shortly after the 2000 election, I remember reading how Al Gore actually thought he might win Bush v. Gore. He knew the law, and he thought he had a good case on the merits. The justices just might go his way. Al Gore, bless your heart, but that was almost heartbreakingly naive.
That same naivete has been on display for several months now. Liberals, especially, seemed to assume that reason and rational discourse would prevail and the act would be upheld. They seemed surprised when, during argument, the Court seemed to be looking for angles on which to hang their "strike it down" hat. It was pretty obvious what they wanted to do; they were just looking for a plausible way to do it.