The oral arguments in the Supreme Court were held this morning. As I previously stated, the two swing votes should be with Justice Kennedy and Chief Justice Roberts.
Based on my review of coverage of the hearings the Chief Justice played his cards fairly close to the vest and didn’t seem to indicate which way he was leaning. He only asked a few questions.
Justice Kennedy asked questions of both sides and made the statement that:
limiting
access to the tax credits to 16 states — to states with PPACA exchanges
established by the states, rather than the U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services (HHS) — would create a “serious constitutional
problem.”
I’m not sure that necessarily shows which way he will vote,
however Wall Street’s reaction seemed to indicate that they felt like the
hearing went well for the administration, as hospital stocks rose more than
any other stocks on the S&P as of 12:00pm today. A ruling against the
administration in King v/s Burwell was is in Wall Street’s opinion a big threat
to hospital stocks. So in reading the tea leaves (or the ticker) it seems they
feel like the administration fared well.
The court is expected to rule in June.
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