High court's health law consideration has political repercussions

The pending ruling could be a stamp of "repudiation or endorsement" during the upcoming election season. But, if the court overturns the health law, will the GOP be prepared to turn the decision into political victory and could that outcome have a "silver lining" for the Obama administration?

Bloomberg: Health-Care Case Injects High Court Into Election Debate
The U.S. Supreme Court's pending ruling on the health-care law will put a rare judicial stamp of repudiation or endorsement on an incumbent president's most prominent achievement just as he faces re-election. "There's been no measure this central to an administration knocked down by a court just a few years after it passed," including when parts of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal were ruled unconstitutional in the 1930s, said Julian Zelizer, a presidential historian at Princeton University (Dorning, 3/29).

The Washington Post: On Health Care, Are Republicans Ready For Victory?
Three days of oral arguments at the Supreme Court have given Republicans reason for optimism that President Obama's health-care law could be heading for a legal defeat in a few months. But would such a victory for the GOP this summer mean political success for the party in November and beyond? (Balz, 3/29).

Reuters: Analysis: Obama Could See Silver Lining If Healthcare Law Rejected
The conventional wisdom is that it would be a political disaster for Democratic President Barack Obama, and a boon for Republicans, if the U.S. Supreme Court strikes down all or most of Obama's healthcare overhaul. That could be: The healthcare law -- which among other things would require most Americans to buy health insurance -- is Obama's signature achievement in domestic policy, and the number-one target of many Republicans in this year's elections. However, that doesn't necessarily mean a loss before the Supreme Court would cripple Obama's re-election argument in November (Zengerle, 3/29).