Outside the court: Roaring rallies, rhetoric and reviews

On day 2 of the Supreme Court hearings, the crowds outside the court ballooned. Meanwhile, Wall Street and lawmakers seemed to take the proceedings in stride.

Kaiser Health News: Capsules: Pundits Parse Tough Questions By Conservative Justices
The second day of the momentous Supreme Court hearing on President Obama's health law ended almost exactly at noon. By 12:03, many conservative lawmakers and television commentators who had been in the packed chambers stood on the marble steps outside, saying the health insurance mandate at the heart of the law appeared to be in deep trouble (Galewitz, 3/27). 

The Washington Post: Court Watchers On Both Sides Speculate About Health-Care Mandate
Political Washington spent Tuesday engaged in an odd parlor game that combined the guesswork of charades with the messaging confusion of "telephone." Inside the Supreme Court, 500 people stared at nine justices, trying to divine the meaning behind questions, quips and even smiles. Outside, a peculiar subset of the capital's denizens were on their various electronic devices, eagerly trying to decode what those inside thought they saw (Fahrenthold and Aizenman, 3/27).

Bloomberg: Both Parties See Signs They'll Win In U.S. Health Ruling
Republicans and Democrats in Congress said they saw signs of eventual victory. ... Kentucky Republican Mitch McConnell, the Senate minority leader, said it was noteworthy that the four Republican- appointed justices who spoke peppered the Obama administration attorney defending the law with questions. ... [Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid] said he's confident the law, designed to expand health coverage to 32 million more Americans and control soaring costs, will remain intact (Litvan and Hunter, 3/28).

The Wall Street Journal: Health Executives Unfazed By Supreme Court Debate
Insurance companies and hospital chains brushed off concerns Tuesday the Supreme Court could strike down a requirement in the health-care law that would create millions of newly insured customers. ... Shares of major health insurers traded down as reports emerged that Justice Anthony Kennedy, a possible swing vote in the case, skeptically questioned the main attorney defending the provision. ... Insurers stocks' regained ground after the law's challengers took their turn responding to the justices' questions (Mathews and Radnofsky, 3/27).

Kaiser Health News: Slideshow: A Cold Morning But Hot Emotions Outside The Court
Americans gathered to express their support or opposition to the law -- or just to see history being made (Marcy, 3/27).

The Washington Post: Health-Care Arguments Boil Over Outside Court
There was a kind of "Freaky Friday"-meets-the-county-fair vibe outside the high court as [Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa] and other tea-partying speakers not only appropriated the lingo of abortion rights but at one point chanted, "We! Are! The 99 percent!'' (Henneberger, 3/27).

National Journal: Supreme Court Crowds Jostle, Shout On Second Day Of Health Care Case
Tea Party Patriots jostled with supporters of the Obama administration's health care reforms in front of the Supreme Court on Tuesday, the crowds swelling until they spilled over onto the Capitol grounds on the second day of oral arguments about the law. (Khan and Friedman, 3/27).

Reuters/Chicago Tribune: Tea Party Activists Rally Against Health Care Law
"We don't see James Madison's constitution as an impediment. It was meant to be our bulwark against the socialists and what the socialists intended to do to cede our authority from us," keynote speaker Representative Michele Bachmann of Minnesota, who ran unsuccessfully for the Republican presidential nomination, said to roars of approval. ... Demonstrators were urged to take out cell phones and call their congressional representative or senator from the rally (Simpson, 3/27).