memeorandum: White House defends embattled solicitor general (Jonathan Allen/Politico)

4:45 PM ET, March 28, 2012

Top Items:

Lyle Denniston / SCOTUSblog:

Argument recap: A lift for the mandate? — Analysis — The Supreme Court spent 91 minutes Wednesday operating on the assumption that it would strike down the key feature of the new health care law, but may have convinced itself in the end not to do that because of just how hard it would be to decide what to do after that.

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Opinionator, Business Insider, Daily Kos, The Maddow Blog, Blue Mass Group, Washington Free Beacon, Pirate's Cove, Shakesville, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion and The New Republic

David G. Savage / Los Angeles Times:

Justices poised to strike down entire healthcare law — Demonstrators pray outside the U.S. Supreme Court on the third day of oral arguments over the constitutionality of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. (Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images / March 28, 2012)

Discussion: The Hill, protein wisdom, Washington Free Beacon, Wake up America, The PJ Tatler, National Review, Mail Online, Weasel Zippers, Michelle Malkin, PoliPundit.com and Ricochet Conversations Feed

Kevin Russell / SCOTUSblog:

First severability argument update — Paul Clement is finished. The Court was skeptical that the whole act should fall if the individual mandate is invalid. But there wasn't any clear indication of how far the Court would go. It seemed like there wasn't much question …

Discussion: Althouse, Ezra Klein and aca litigation blog

David Frum / david-frum:

Supremes Won't Save GOP From Itself on Obamacare — A supporter of President Barack Obama's health care reforms(R) argues with several elderly women who are against the reforms in front of the US Supreme Court in Washington, DC after the morning session March 27, 2012, KAREN BLEIER / AFP / Getty Images

Discussion: 2012 Decoded

Jonathan Allen / Politico:

White House defends embattled solicitor general — The White House is coming to the defense of Solicitor General Donald Verrilli, whose efforts to defend the president's health care law Tuesday are under attack as a “train wreck” and “The Worst Supreme Court Argument of All Time.”

Discussion: CNN, PJ Media, Mother Jones, Indecision Forever, Hot Air, Above the Law and National Review

Alex Seitz-Wald / ThinkProgress:

Romney Justifies Denying Health Care To People With Pre-Existing Conditions: 'We Can't Play The Game Like That' — As Mitt Romney tries to distance himself from Obamacare, he ran into some trouble last night when he got stumped by comedian Jay Leno. Leno asked Romney what he would do to help people …

Discussion: Firedoglake

Washington Wire:

Live Blog: Obama Health Law at the Supreme Court, Day 3 … The Supreme Court on Wednesday had the last of its three days of arguments over the Obama health-care law, with justices set to weigh what happens to the rest of the overhaul if the court strikes down the requirement that individuals carry health insurance.

Discussion: protein wisdom, National Review, The Enterprise Blog, Associated Press, Guardian, SCOTUSblog and Wall Street Journal

msnbc.com:
First Thoughts: Brace yourself for another 5-4 decision

Discussion: Greg's Opinion, The Caucus, Hot Air, No More Mister Nice Blog, Campaign Stops and The Moderate Voice

Greg Sargent / Washington Post:
The Morning Plum: What will happen to the uninsured?

Discussion: ABCNEWS, American Prospect, msnbc.com, Salon, The Stranger …, Mother Jones, The Maddow Blog and The Raw Story

Daniel Strauss / The Hill:
Santorum uses Supreme Court oral arguments on Obama healthcare law to criticize Romney

Discussion: Politico and The Hill

New York Times:
The Supreme Court's Momentous Test

Discussion: American Prospect, Washington Post, The Huffington Post, Hit & Run, No More Mister Nice Blog, SCOTUSblog, The Caucus, Economix, Althouse and Ricochet Conversations Feed

Glenn Thrush / Politico:
John Roberts Court on trial

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Erick's blog, Taylor Marsh, RealClearPolitics Video Log, New York Times, Right Wing News and msnbc.com

Adam Liptak / New York Times:
Justices Ask if Health Law Is Viable Without Mandate

Discussion: Politico, CBS News, Ezra Klein, NPR, White House Dossier and Truthdig

Philip Klein / Campaign 2012:
SCOTUS mulls striking down all of Obamacare

Discussion: Hot Air and Outside the Beltway

Julian Pecquet / The Hill:
Reactions: Lawmakers revert to talking points as Justices leave them in the dark

Discussion: Politico

Dahlia Lithwick / Slate:
Place Your Bets on Obamacare

Discussion: The Mahablog, Capital New York, SCOTUSblog, Democracy in America, Mother Jones, Reuters, USA Today, The Huffington Post, CNN, The Volokh Conspiracy and New York Times

Darius Dixon / Politico:
James Carville: Court loss ‘best thing’ for Democrats

Discussion: americanthinker.com, The Loyal Opposition, Washington Monthly, Don Surber, The PJ Tatler and Indecision Forever

Dahlia Lithwick / Slate:
The Supreme Court's Dark Vision of Freedom

Discussion: The Caucus, Ezra Klein, The New Republic, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Washington Post, The Volokh Conspiracy, National Review and Business Insider

Reuters:
Supreme court struggles with healthcare law's fate

Discussion: Washington Post, Firedoglake, Los Angeles Times, CNN and Law Blog

Washington Post:
On health-care hearing's last day, court weighs severability, Medicaid expansion

Discussion: SCOTUSblog, Hot Air, New York Times, Outside the Beltway, Firedoglake, news@JAMA, The Atlantic Wire and CBS News

Pete Kasperowicz / The Hill:

Dem kicked off House floor for ‘hoodie’ in Trayvon Martin protest — Rep. Bobby Rush (D-Ill.) on Wednesday morning was asked to leave the House floor after removing his suit jacket to reveal a “hoodie,” then putting the hood of his sweatshirt on his head to protest the Trayvon Martin killing in Florida.

Discussion: Politico, Campaign 2012, The Democratic Daily, Outside the Beltway and Naked Politics

Alex Seitz-Wald / ThinkProgress:

Congressman Gets Kicked Off House Floor For Wearing Hoodie For Trayvon — Rep. Bobby Rush (D-IL) donned a hoodie and took to the House floor this morning to speak out against the murder of Travyon Martin, but was shouted down and removed from the floor by the Republican speaker pro tem …

Discussion: Mediaite, The New Civil Rights Movement, The Hinterland Gazette, Taylor Marsh and Politico

Fox News:

Elderly couple forced out of home after tweet claims killer of Trayvon Martin lives there — SANFORD, FLA - An elderly Florida couple have been forced to move into a hotel after their home address was wrongly tweeted as belonging to the man who shot teen Trayvon Martin.

Discussion: NO QUARTER, The Smoking Gun, Sister Toldjah, The Daily Caller, Weasel Zippers, Wake up America, Moonbattery, The PJ Tatler and JustOneMinute

Alex Alvarez / Mediaite:
Congressman Bobby Rush Kicked Off House Floor For Wearing Hoodie

Discussion: The Right Scoop and The Daily Caller

Corey Boles / Washington Wire:
Rep. Bobby Rush Is Scolded for Wearing a ‘Hoodie’ on House Floor

Discussion: Hot Air

Greg Holyk / ABCNEWS:

Record Number See Romney Negatively; Obama Outpaces Him in Popularity — Mitt Romney trails Barack Obama by 19 points in basic popularity as the 2012 presidential contest inches closer to the main event, with a record 50 percent of Americans in the latest ABC News/Washington Post poll now rating Romney unfavorably overall.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Washington Post, Little Green Footballs, American Prospect, Ballot Box, The Caucus, The Maddow Blog, GOP 12, The Daily Dish and Prairie Weather

CNN:

CNN Poll: Obama leads Romney and Santorum in November showdowns — Washington (CNN) - President Barack Obama holds a double-digit lead over GOP presidential candidates Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum in hypothetical general election matchups, according to a new poll.

Discussion: Taegan Goddard's …

Tom Fontaine / PittsburghLIVE.com:
Santorum slips in Pennsylvania, survey finds

Discussion: Hot Air, The Moderate Voice, Outside the Beltway, Vodkapundit, GOP 12 and Shakesville

Stephanie Cutter / CNN:
Top Obama aide calls GOP charges ‘despicable’

Discussion: Politico, The Hill and msnbc.com

Mike Allen / Politico:
Exclusive: Newt Gingrich cuts staff, aims at Tampa

Bloomberg:

News Corp. Said to Plan U.S. Sports Network to Rival ESPN — Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. (NWSA) is taking steps to start a national U.S. sports network on cable television aimed at challenging Walt Disney Co. (DIS)'s ESPN, according to people with knowledge of the situation.

Discussion: Politico and msnbc.com, more at Mediagazer »

Los Angeles Times:
Magic Johnson-led group is picked as Dodgers' next owner

Discussion: DCist, Law Blog, The Informer, Hot Air, EURweb, The Hinterland Gazette, L.A. NOW and Colorlines

Ed Kilgore / Washington Monthly:

Stealing Christianity — TNR's Tim Noah wrote yesterday about one of my all-time biggest pet peeves: the constant appropriation of the word “Christian” by conservative evangelicals as exclusive to their distinctive and hardly uncontested point of view. What sent Noah off was an NPR story on …

Discussion: Mother Jones

Timothy Noah / The New Republic:
Language Cop: “Christian”

Discussion: Mother Jones

Spencer Ackerman / Wired:

FBI Taught Agents They Could ‘Bend or Suspend the Law’ — The FBI taught its agents that they could sometimes “bend or suspend the law” in their hunt for terrorists and criminals. Other FBI instructional material, discovered during a months-long review of FBI counterterrorism training …

Discussion: New York Times, Guardian, emptywheel, Hullabaloo and ACLU

Mj Lee / Politico:

John McCain: John Boehner's got it wrong on presidential travel — Sen. John McCain said Wednesday that he disagrees with House Speaker John Boehner's suggestion that it's inappropriate to criticize President Barack Obama when he's traveling overseas. — “I understand John Boehner's point …

Discussion: Hot Air and Mediaite