[C19fan]

Looks like at least for today Kennedy woke up on the right side, pardon the pun, of the bed. If you believe his comments the law's mandate would represent a fundamental change in the relationship between gov't and the people and therefore needs there is a "heavy burden of justification" for the government.

[Gaffer]

Liberals and Democrats are masters of deception. Kennedy is a left-leaning liberal. While his pre-decision questions are tough there could be at least two reasons he posed this way: 1) he is coaching the defense, and/or 2) he is just feigning ‘due diligence’ in pre-decision interrogation with a subliminal bias toward the government's position.

Regardless, it is somewhat heartening to hear of the Administration's Top Legal Dog getting his ass handed to him by one of his own.

[Tenacious 1]

My prediction:

The court will decide the mandate is not enforceable but not unconstitutional. No penalties will be able to be legally collected.

A collective WTF will follow.

[tacticalogic]

Didn’t they get the Pelosi memo about the “ironclad” constitutionality of Obamacare?

[SgtHooper]

Do not be mislead by such dialogue. The Court must do this; however, it is no indication of the final decision.

[Hostage]

I have been commenting on these hearings and have heavily cautioned against becoming overconfident.

The real game play of all plays, the real play that determines the winner is severability.

I do not believe the SCOTUS will deny severability outright.

But it would be a beautiful thing if SCOTUS sent the law back to Congress to vote on severability. And I wonder if SCOTUS could send something back to Congress to reconsider, before SCOTUS made a ruling.

Because a revote on severability would be a stake through the malicious heart of Obamacare. The House would vote against severability, so if SCOTUS ruled against say the individual mandate, without implied severability the whole Law would go down and cease to exist.

[Bigg Red]

According to CNN’s legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin, the arguments were “a train wreck for the Obama administration.”

&&&
And here’s to many, many more.

[djf]

Audio and transcripts of todays arguments are up.

http://www.supremecourt.gov/oral_arguments/argument_audio_detail.aspx?argument=11-398-Tuesday

[djf]

Audio and transcripts of todays arguments are up.

http://www.supremecourt.gov/oral_arguments/argument_audio_detail.aspx?argument=11-398-Tuesday