From Justice Anthony Kennedy, generally believed to be the key swing vote on the individual mandate, during oral arguments today:
Can you create commerce in order to regulate it?
I’m not sure what the context for this was, and on its own it doesn’t make a lot of sense. What commerce is the government supposedly creating? But it’s a bad sign, and CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin had a dismal appraisal of this morning’s session:
“This was a train wreck for the Obama administration,” he said. “This law looks like it’s going to be struck down. I’m telling you, all of the predictions including mine that the justices would not have a problem with this law were wrong… if I had to bet today I would bet that this court is going to strike down the individual mandate.”
….Toobin also said he thought Justice Kennedy, the perennial swing vote, was a “lost cause” for supporters of the health care reform law.
Urk. Fasten your seat belts.
