Today marked the last day that arguments were heard by the Supreme court as to the constitutionality of the Individual Mandate portion of Obamacare that would require all individuals to have health insurance. (This is an amazing simplification of the matter, but I'm trying to make this blonde friendly.) So far, it's not going well for the fans of the bill. The Solicitor General (attorney for the government), Edwin Kneedler by all acocunts did a sub par job of selling the case for the mandate with the justices having gotten a good laugh on more than one occasion on his account. Justice Scalia (in reference to particulars of the bill and what should be done with them should the mandate be ruled unconstitutional) remarked that Kneedler should remember the Eighth amendment to the Constitution (prevents excessive bail, excessive fines or cruel and unusual punishment) and not expect either the Justices nor their clerks to read the 2,700 page bill and decide how to rule on every single individual issue in it.
At this point, it is looking like the mandate will be struck down with likely a close 5-4 vote. Now it is being debated that due to the immense complexity the Court and country would face in deciding on the constitutionality of each issue in the bill, should the entire thing be scrapped? Stay tuned....
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