Supreme Court: No ruling on health care
A supporter of President Barack Obama’s health care reforms argues with several elderly women who are against the reforms in front of the US Supreme Court in Washington, DC after the morning session March 27, 2012. The US Supreme Court Tuesday took up the most contentious part of President Barack Obama’s landmark health care reform, hearing arguments on whether it is constitutional to require Americans to buy insurance coverage. The second day of an unprecedented three days of arguments into the Affordable Care Act, derided by opponents as “Obamacare” but hailed by supporters as a major achievement, has focused national attention on what could be a decisive issue in the 2012 presidential elections.
Washington, D.C., waited with bated breath on Monday for the Supreme Court's ruling on the Affordable Care Act, but it did not come.
According to the Guardian, the decision was likely to come through on Monday, but will now be announced on Thursday.
The Supreme Court did rule on two important cases:
IMMIGRATION: Arizona's aggressive immigration law received a split decision, with the court upholding the "stop and check" provision, one of the most controversial aspects of the law. According to The Huffington Post, Justice Elena Kagan did not participate in Arizona v. United States. The decision can be found here.
CAMPAIGN FINANCE: The court reaffirmed its decision from two years ago to allow corporations to spend freely during election campaigns. By a 5-4 vote margin, the justices struck down a Montana law limiting corporate campaign spending, according to the Associated Press.
More on GlobalPost: Supreme Court considers core of health care law, the individual mandate
For the health care law, the three possible outcomes include everything being upheld, everything being struck down or portions being struck down, according to MSNBC. The political consequences are still unpredictable, as the losing side could either be unsettled or have an issue to rally its base around.
More on GlobalPost: Supreme Court debates health care without individual mandate
The part that is most likely to get struck down is the individual mandate, which would require healthy Americans to buy health care to spread the cost among a larger pool of individuals buying health care.
The New York Times reported that many former advisers of the Obama administration emphasized those aspects of the bill not connected to the mandate, which might still stand after a Supreme Court decision. However, losing the individual mandate would mean losing universal coverage, which was something President Obama insisted on not compromising.
The Supreme Court's ruling on the health care law will definitely be announced on Thursday, according to Reuters.
Here are some reactions from the crowds anticipating the health care ruling:
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