Supreme Court – Day 2- Democrats on Verge of Snatching Victory from Jaws of Defeat

We fight for lost cause because we know our defeat and dismay may be the preface to our successors’ victory, though that victory itself will be temporary; we fight rather to keep something alive in the expectation that anything will triumph.

T.S. Eliot (1881-1962), American Poet turned British Citizen, Francis Herbert Bradley


March 27, 2012 3PM - If the audio transcripts of this morning’s Supreme Court session on the constitutionality of the individual mandate are any indication,conservative and liberal commentators concede that the Court is headed towards the Court declaring the mandate unconstitutional.

These opinions rest mainly on Justice Anthony Kennedy’s line of questioning. Kennedy is considered the swing vote should the final decision come down to a 5-4 votes. Kennedy's questions expressed profound skepticism, even hostility, over the mandate’s infringement on individual liberties.

But fear not. Liberal commentators are in the process of seizing victory from the jaws of defeat.

A Victory in Disguise

Their argument - that a defeat would actually be a victory in disguise- goes like this.

The defeat of the individual mandate at the hands of conservative majority on the Court would be a deplorable sign and symptom of America's moral failure and of conservative partisan judicial activism that would deprive Americans of the fruits of universal coverage and moral high ground. We would be a moral outcast and disgrace among civilized nations. A defeat would ignite and mobilize the Democratic base to do the right thing - assure all Americans people of reduced costs, equitable access, and improved quality.

Why the President Should Be Re-Elected

Furthermore, the defeat would demonstrate beyond any reasonable doubt that President should be re-elected to :

a) salvage and implement what remains of the health reform law;

b) guarantee in the future that he can appoint more liberal Supreme Court justices;

c) continue to carry the torch of universal entitlements in the form of universal coverage, perhaps in the form of Medicare for all;

d) carry on the impossible dream and reach the unreachable star.

This wishful-thinking evokes a scene from Macbeth in which Macbeth challenges MacDuff to a final duel by saying, “Dream on, MadDuff and damn’d be him that first cries, “Hold Enough!”

Actually, Macbeth said “Lay on, MacDuff” but the meaning is the same, that the dream will not die in a fatal duel after the final political gauntlet has been run.

Tweet: Audio recordings from today’s Supreme Court session on the individual mandate’s constitutionality indicate the mandate may be headed for defeat.