If the SCOTUS rules Obamacare unconstitutional...

[cavalcade]

If it is ruled unconstitutional it will have no effect on Obama being re-elected.  Both bases will be fired up for this election no matter what.

The only way it could hurt Obama is if he reacts by endorsing single payer during the campaign, and there's zero reason to do that.

[cavalcade]

So is this the open thread now?

So either Kennedy will come up with one of his own, or team Obama loses.

I got the impression from reading yesterday's transcript that Sotomayor personally likes the mandate but buys the activity/inactivity distinction (unlike Ginsburg/Breyer) and wants limits on Congress's power there.  I think there's a chance she pitches Kennedy a test of some kind and then convinces him that the mandate is in bounds, in addition to the chance he does it himself.

Can the justices rule separately on the mandate and on severability?  So, could we have a 5-4 "party line" decision against the mandate, but then Roberts joins the liberals to strike down just a few other parts of the law?