Washington News

Supreme Court Conservatives Skeptical Of Health Care Law's Constitutionality Media reports and analyses portray the Supreme Court as leaning towards ruling against the constitutionality of President Obama's health care law. Yesterday's hearing generated widespread TV and print coverage. However, only the CBS Evening News, among the three network newscasts, led with the court hearing (the other two led with the JetBlue pilot incident), and continuing coverage of the Trayvon Martin shooting took up much of the cable news channels' primetime hours again Tuesday night.
According to Brian Williams, on NBC Nightly News, "A lot of the experts have been predicting that the law would probably stand, but after today, all bets are off." On the CBS Evening News, Jan Crawford said, "The healthcare law is considered President Obama's signature achievement, but...it appeared a majority of the Justices were ready to describe the individual mandate another way -- unconstitutional."
According to the Washington Post , "By the end of Tuesday's long-awaited oral arguments, the individual mandate...seemed to be in trouble." Adam Liptak, in a front-page article for the New York Times , also says "the available evidence indicated that the heart of the Affordable Care Act is in peril." Liptak continues, "If the indications from Tuesday's arguments are correct...the ruling may undo parts or all of the overhaul of the health insurance system, deal Mr. Obama a political blow in the midst of the presidential election season, and revise the constitutional relationship between the federal government and the states."
Justice Kennedy gets the lion's share of the attention, and "skeptical" is, by far, the adjective most often used to describe the tone of his questioning. A Los Angeles Times headline reading "Skeptical Kennedy Signals Trouble For Obama's Healthcare Law" is a concise summation of the day's analyses.
In an article touted on the Drudge Report Tuesday, The Hill reported New Yorker legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin, on CNN, described the hearing as a "trainwreck for the Obama administration," and Kennedy as "enormously skeptical." Toobin added, "This law looks like it's going to be struck down. ... All of the predictions, including mine, that the justices would not have a problem with this law were wrong." Toobin also claimed Solicitor General Donald Verrilli "did a simply awful job," characterizing Verrilli as "nervous," and "not well spoken."
On NBC Nightly News, NBC's justice correspondent Pete Williams reported, "It does seem the majority of the justices are skeptical that Congress has the power to pass such a sweeping law."
David Leonhardt, in an analysis for the New York Times , says, "Many legal scholars, including some conservatives, have been predicting that the Supreme Court will uphold" the ACA, but "after Tuesday's arguments, when several justices asked skeptical questions about the heart of the law, a political lens seemed relevant, too. ... Skeptical questions from the bench are often an indicator of how justices will ultimately vote -- and many court experts expressed surprise at the apparent agreement among the conservatives, including" Kennedy.
Bill O'Reilly, in his opening monologue for Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor, said "most of the justices" were "openly skeptical about the power needed to impose Obamacare." O'Reilly added that "the consensus is" Verrilli "did not make a strong argument."
Roll Call quotes Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell as saying, "It was noteworthy that the four more liberal members of the court were mainly peppering the plaintiffs and the other five were mainly peppering the government, leading us to hope this awful law will be overturned." Sen. Ron Johnson added, "I was encouraged that they were asking the right questions."
Fox News' Special Report reported Kennedy "unleashed an unexpectedly candid assessment of the individual mandate today that has supporters terrified the Affordable Care Act could be toast."
The Wall Street Journal , in an article titled, "Kennedy Leaves Both Sides Hopeful," says some liberal analysts are still hopeful that Kennedy will side with the Administration.
NBC's Pete Williams, on CNBC's The Kudlow Report, said, "It's quite clear the four conservatives...believe this law is unconstitutional, and it's equally clear that the four liberal members of the court...would vote to uphold it. ... But tonight I think the future of the healthcare law is very much in doubt." Williams, on MSNBC's Hardball, added, "It wasn't a great day for the administration. ... It's quite clear they didn't pick up any of the conservatives," which means "the question comes down to" Kennedy, and "for most of the questioning...he showed great skepticism."
The CBS Evening News reported that the Administration "says the mandate will make sure that everyone has healthcare, while keeping insurance affordable, but opponents say it is a dangerous new power for the government, forcing citizens to buy a product." CBS's Jan Crawford added, "The conservative justices and Kennedy, a moderate, expressed concerns the law gave Congress broad new powers to dictate behavior," while "all four of the Court's liberal Justices defended the law."
McClatchy reports that the justices "cast serious doubts on the Obama administration's signature health care law Tuesday, emboldening the Republicans who now are eagerly campaigning to kill it." According to McClatchy, Solicitor General Verrilli "stressed...that the 40 million uninsured Americans posed what he called 'an economic problem' that Congress is empowered to fix." McClatchy adds, "In a potentially sobering sign for the Obama administration, even [Kennedy] the justice most commonly considered to be a swing vote made pointed observations about the insurance-buying mandate."
The Washington Post says Kennedy "suggested" that the Affordable Care Act "invoked a power 'beyond what our cases allow' the Congress to wield in regulating interstate commerce." Paul Clement, "the former George W. Bush administration solicitor general representing 26 states challenging the law, picked up on that theme, saying the government was defending an 'unprecedented' act by Congress with no limiting principle."
However, on NBC Nightly News, legal correspondent Savannah Guthrie said, "Oral arguments are not always an indicator of where the court will come out," and noted that in "the DC circuit, very conservative judges grilled the government's lawyers," but, "ultimately those conservative judges were in the majority upholding the healthcare law."

Trayvon Martin's Parents Appear At House Forum On Racial Profiling The CBS Evening News reported, "The controversy over the shooting death of an unarmed teenager by a neighborhood watch volunteer moved to Washington today. Democrats in the House held a forum on racial profiling in the wake of the death of Trayvon Martin in Florida," and "Martin's parents were there."
USA Today reports that a "group of House Democrats" at the forum urged Congress to "investigate gun laws, the lack of regulations on local neighborhood watch groups and the social status of black men and boys. ... The case underscored the lack of clear standards on how to investigate incidents involving claims of self-defense, said Rep. Corrine Brown, a Florida Democrat who represents Sanford, the city where the shooting occurred. Brown lauded the Justice Department investigation now underway and said of the controversy: 'I don't know whether it's incompetent, it's a coverup or if it's all of the above.'"
According to the Washington Times , "The forum, billed as a briefing on racial profiling and hate crimes, was dominated by lawmakers, mostly black House Democrats, who strongly condemned" George Zimmerman "and Sanford, Fla. law enforcement officials handling the case."

Obama Explains "Hot Mic" Missile Defense Comments Though the incident failed to generate second-day coverage in the network evening newscasts, President Obama's "hot mike" comments to Russian President Dmitry Medvedev were covered by national dailies and wires, which focused on Obama's light-hearted efforts to "contain" the fallout from the "gaffe."
The AP reports Obama "on Tuesday assured he had no hidden agenda with Russia for a second term," saying the President offered the explanation that "he wants to work with Russia on the deeply divisive issue of a missile defense shield in Europe. ... And there's no way to expect progress during the politics of this election year, so he is already looking to 2013." The AP notes Obama's Republican "rivals back home pounced, accusing him of secretive plotting and dealing over American national security." Speaking in South Korea "with Medvedev at his side again, Obama tried some on-the-record candor and humor to put it all to rest," saying, "This is not a matter of hiding the ball. ... I'm on record."
USA Today reports Obama "made light of the gaffe Tuesday by covering a microphone with his hand as he greeted the Russian leader at the Nuclear Security Summit and asking reporters whether their mikes were on."

House Sends JOBS Act To Obama By a vote of 380-41, the House of Representatives yesterday gave what the New York Times calls "overwhelming approval" to the JOBS Act, "sending the bipartisan legislation to President Obama, who has said he will sign it." The Times notes that supporters of the Act "see it as a breakthrough for entrepreneurs who hope to build an enterprise around sometimes offbeat ideas without having to sell them to larger companies. But a few detractors worry that the measure will bring back the 'boiler rooms' of the 1990s Internet stock bubble, where hucksters peddle stock tips to unwitting amateur investors."
The Los Angeles Times refers to "a rare burst of bipartisanship." The Times notes that the bill, which would "loosen regulations on small businesses and start-up firms seeking to attract needed capital, including through public stock offerings," received "twice as many 'no' votes as an earlier version, even though the Senate had added beefed-up protections for investors." The White House "said it was 'heartened' that the GOP-led chamber agreed to the Senate's changes and pledged to monitor the effect once the bill becomes law."
The AP says the legislation "is on course to be one of the few achievements this year for a Congress mired in partisan divisions and primed for the fall elections." President Obama "came out in support of the bill when it first emerged in the House three weeks ago, saying it paralleled many of the initiatives he had put forth to encourage small-business growth."

Campaign News

Gingrich Shifts Away From Conventional Campaigning, Focuses On Convention Politico reports that Newt Gingrich "is cutting back his campaign schedule, will lay off about a third of his cash-strapped campaign's full-time staff, and has replaced his manager as part of what aides are calling a 'big-choice convention' strategy, communications director Joe DeSantis told POLITICO." Politico adds, "It's largely a strategy of necessity" for Gingrich, who lags behind Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum in the race for delegates and whose "campaign-finance report for February, released last week, showed more debt ($1.55 million) than cash on hand ($1.54 million)."
The Washington Post says the move "underscores his fading chances of claiming the party's nomination." Gingrich "will continue to visit primary states but will begin a post-primary strategy that zeroes in on the Republican National Convention, his aides said."
The New York Times reports that DeSantis "said Mr. Gingrich accepted that he could not win enough delegates to clinch the nomination before the convention. But the campaign believes that" Romney and Santorum aren't "likely to do so, either. In that case, Mr. DeSantis said, the campaign will enter a 'tossup period' this summer." Said DeSantis, "We're going to make sure Newt is ready to win that 60-day period. What we're going to be doing is focus on a campaign strategy that takes it to Obama."
The AP adds Gingrich "plans to spend much less time in primary states and instead personally call delegates to try to persuade them to back him at the Republican National Convention in August. 'We are not going to cede to Mitt Romney's strategy to take the party down,' Hammond said. Ultimately, Gingrich would take the fight to the convention floor, Hammond said."
The Los Angeles Times reports, "Campaign manager Michael Krull, a friend of Gingrich's wife, Callista, has been replaced by longtime Gingrich aide Vince Haley. DeSantis declined to identify other staffers who had been let go but said more than 20 remained, including himself, Haley and spokesman R.C. Hammond."

Romney Up In Wisconsin Primary A Marquette Law School poll of 707 Wisconsin registered voters taken March 22-25 shows Mitt Romney leading the GOP field in Wisconsin, which holds its primary on April 3, but trailing President Obama in the general. Obama tops Romney 48%-43%, Rick Santorum 51%-39%, Newt Gingrich 53%-36%, and Ron Paul 50%-40%. The survey shows President Obama's job approval rating at 48%, with 47% disapproving. Among a sub-sample of 385 GOP primary voters, Romney leads with 39%, followed by Santorum with 31%, Paul with 11%, and Gingrich with 5%.
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel noted, however, that Obama's lead over Romney has narrowed considerably since "Marquette's February survey, when the President led Romney 53% to 38%."

Santorum Up Just 2 Points In Pennsylvania Survey A Franklin & Marshall College/Philadelphia Daily News survey of 505 Pennsylvania GOP primary voters shows Rick Santorum leading Mitt Romney just 30%-28% in his home state. That's down from a 29-point lead Santorum held in a similar poll in February. F&M pollster G. Terry Madonna said if Santorum "wins it narrowly, he loses it. A close election here is devastating." The Daily News adds, "Those polled overwhelmingly listed the economy as their main concern. But Santorum's campaign has been sidetracked for weeks at times by social issues. Madonna said that Santorum boxed himself in by turning to social issues, wasting a chance to expand his base in states such as Pennsylvania with 'complex and diverse' electorates that include many moderate voters."
The Harrisburg (PA) Patriot-News adds that Madonna "said the dramatic shift is largely down to Santorum himself. 'He was leading a month ago when he was on message, talking about the economy and foreign policy,' Madonna said. 'But his forays into cultural and social issues have certainly cost him support. It's been provocatively off message.'"