We are accustomed to looking to Reason.TV for good solid analysis of current events. With the past week of the government's presentation before the High Court for the health care mandate, Senior editor Damon Root gives a rundown from the end of each day's proceedings.
It does not bode well for the government's case at this point.
For the most part, the judges' reactions have been predictable, at least in terms of a general leaning. The liberal justices of the Court -- Brayer, Ginsberg, Kagan, and Sotomayor -- have considered the prospect of the uninsured being an unnecessary drain on the insured, and the subsequent rise in costs, something which may be covered under the constitutional power of the Federal government to regulate interstate commerce (the so-called "commerce clause").
On the other hand, three of the more conservative justices -- Alito, Roberts, and Scalia -- have challenged the very notion of how an affirmative ruling would affect individual rights, and violate the role of the Constitution in limiting the power of central government, as opposed to expanding it. While Justice Thomas has remained silent at this phase, as he usually does, he will undoubtedly not rule favorably.
But it is the "swing vote" of Justice Kennedy that may prove the biggest surprise, as his questions have been the most blistering.
Finally, we present Hot Air's Ed Morrissey, who interviewed Professor Randy Barnett of the Georgetown University Law Center. What is at stake here for the government's case, may not just be the mandate, but the entire law, taking the President's signature cause back to the drawing board. We can expect a ruling from the Supreme Court by the first of June.
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