Waiting for the word

Anticipation regarding the Supreme Court's health law decision -- expected this week and possibly even today -- has created a guessing-game situation in Washington. News outlets report on both the preparations being made and the reasons why this decision, and the challenge behind it, are historic and important.     

The New York Times: Washington Memo: Polarized Over Health Care, United On Drama Of Ruling
The impending heath care ruling by the Supreme Court has become this city's O. J. Simpson verdict crossed with a papal conclave -- polarizing, maddeningly unpredictable and shrouded in mysterious signaling. The ruling is expected to come this week, either shortly after 10 a.m. on Monday, the last scheduled day of the term, or on an extra day later in the week (Steinhauer, 6/24).

The Wall Street Journal: Health Law Guessing Game Grips The Capital
A wave of anxious preparation has spread across Washington and beyond as both sides of the debate wait for the court to decide its biggest case in years. Some have taken to monitoring the justices' body language at public appearances for clues on the decision and tracking the odds of particular outcomes on online trading markets (Adamy and Bravin, 6/24).

The Associated Press: Court Keeps Upcoming Health Care Decision Secret
It's the biggest secret in a city known for not keeping them. The nine Supreme Court justices and more than three dozen other people have kept quiet for more than two months about how the high court is going to rule on the constitutionality of President Barack Obama's health care overhaul (Holland, 6/25).

The Wall Street Journal: Federal Power At Issue In Key Cases
The Supreme Court's decisions on the 2010 health-care overhaul and Arizona's tough anti-immigration law, due out this week, are likely to help set the confines of federal power for decades to come. Both are about defining that boundary with the states, a point of tension since the founding of the nation. Even this year's political campaign is raising the federalism issue as the parties debate the proper level of Washington spending and taxes at a time of high budget deficits (Bravin, 6/24).

Los Angeles Times: Supreme Court Could Rule For Both Sides On Health Care, Immigration
The Supreme Court is set this week to decide the politically charged constitutional clashes between President Obama and Republicans over his health care law and his immigration enforcement policy. By most accounts, the justices must make a stark, clear choice either to endorse Obama's policies -- including the mandate for all to have health insurance -- or to strike them down as flatly unconstitutional. But the justices could rule in unexpected ways that would allow both sides to claim a victory (Savage, 6/25).

The Associated Press: U.S. Health Care Reform Efforts Through History
The Supreme Court's upcoming ruling on President Barack Obama's health care overhaul law comes after a century of debate over what role the government should play in helping people in the United States afford medical care. A look at the issue through the years (Cass, 6/24).

The Hill: Health Care Decision Leads To Defining Week For Obama, Roberts
John Roberts' legacy as chief justice will likely be defined over the next few days as the Supreme Court will decide whether to uphold, or destroy President Obama's signature health care law. One way or the other, history will be made this week for Obama's presidency, and the Roberts court. Roberts, a hero to the right, will surely attract criticism no matter what the court decides. That will put Roberts, who was easily confirmed in 2005 with the approval of 22 Democrats, in an unusual position (Baker and Cusack, 6/24).

Reuters: Analysis: What Takes So Long? Behind The Scenes At Top U.S. Court
During a break from the crush of last-minute opinion-writing, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg told an audience of 1,000 people last week at a Washington legal convention: "It is flood season at the court." For the rest of the country it has been more like a drought, a stretch of weeks without any word in the most closely watched cases -- the blockbuster challenges to President Barack Obama's health care plan and Arizona's crackdown on illegal immigration (Biskupic, 6/22).