memeorandum: Mitt's ‘Romniacs’ united by an uncommon passion for the Republican hopeful (David A. Fahrenthold/Washington Post)

11:25 PM ET, March 28, 2012

Top Items:

Lyle Denniston / SCOTUSblog:

Argument recap: A lift for the mandate? (FINAL UPDATE 5:12 pm) — 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 …

Lyle Denniston / SCOTUSblog:

Argument recap: Will Medicaid be sacrificed? (FINAL UPDATE 7:08 pm) — Analysis — Unless a closing oration by a top government lawyer stirs some real sympathy for the poor, the new health care law's broad expansion of the Medicaid program that serves the needy may be sacrificed …

Discussion: Crooks and Liars and The Huffington Post

Reid Cherlin / GQ:

Take It From Me: Defending Obamacare is Super-Hard — It so happens that I'm packing up my apartment and moving out of Washington today after eight years of residence, most of which were spent in politics and government. One of the items I just bubble-wrapped is a framed copy of The L …

Discussion: Ezra Klein, Mother Jones and News Desk

Dahlia Lithwick / Slate:

The Supreme Court's Dark Vision of Freedom — The court's conservatives apparently believe in the land of the free. Circa 1804. — The fight over Obamacare is about freedom. That's what we've been told since these lawsuits were filed two years ago and that's what we heard both inside and outside the Supreme Court this morning.

Discussion: The Caucus, Bloomberg, News Desk, Washington Post, Ezra Klein, National Review, Lawyers, Guns & Money, CNN, The Volokh Conspiracy and Business Insider

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)

Adam Liptak / New York Times:
Supreme Court Debates Striking Down Whole Health Law

Discussion: Roll Call, Politico, Power Line, Associated Press, CNN, Opinionator, Truthdig, Above the Law and ACS Blog

New York Times:
The Supreme Court's Momentous Test

Discussion: Washington Post, The Huffington Post, msnbc.com, The Caucus, Hit & Run, ACS Blog, The BLT, The Loyal Opposition, Economix, American Prospect, SCOTUSblog, Ricochet Conversations Feed and Althouse

Los Angeles Times:
Justices suggest Medicaid expansion is unconstitutional

Discussion: Ricochet Conversations Feed

Peter Landers / Washington Wire:
A Medicaid Twist in Health-Law Arguments

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Law Blog and Associated Press

David Frum / david-frum:
Supremes Won't Save GOP From Itself on Obamacare

Discussion: The New Republic, PERRspectives, The Daily Beast, Campaign Stops and 2012 Decoded

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

Discussion: New York Times, Salon, Liberal Values, ABCNEWS, The Stranger …, The Maddow Blog, The Raw Story and American Prospect

Jonathan Allen / Politico:
White House defends embattled solicitor general

Discussion: UrbanGrounds, Mother Jones, PJ Media, Above the Law, Indecision Forever and National Review

Kevin Russell / SCOTUSblog:
First severability argument update

Discussion: Althouse, Washington Wire, Ezra Klein and aca litigation blog

Jeff Weiner / Orlando Sentinel:

Trayvon Martin: Couple who fled home after Spike Lee tweet hires Morgan firm — A couple who say they were forced to leave their home after director Spike Lee re-tweeted their address to his Twitter followers has hired the Morgan & Morgan law firm to represent them.

Discussion: Ed Driscoll, Riehl World View, Scared Monkeys and National Review

Frances Martel / Mediaite:

New Police Video Shows George Zimmerman Unscathed On Night Of Trayvon Martin Shooting — ABC News has obtained exclusive video of Trayvon Martin shooter George Zimmerman on the night he shot the Florida teenager, speaking to police. While there is no audio, the video is key evidence …

Discussion: JustOneMinute, American Power and National Review

Judd Legum / ThinkProgress:

Trayvon Martin: The 5 Key Unanswered Questions — Trayvon Martin, as he appeared on his actual Facebook page — It's been more than a month since Trayvon Martin was shot dead by George Zimmerman. (Get a full rundown of the facts of the case here.) — Tonight, ABC News release video footage …

Discussion: WWBT-TV, The Hinterland Gazette and Hullabaloo

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: msnbc.com, Politico, Sister Toldjah, The Democratic Daily, Outside the Beltway and The Gateway Pundit

Ann Althouse / Althouse:
Rasmussen does a poll on whether Zimmerman is guilty of murdering Trayvon Martin.

Discussion: Rasmussen Reports and Outside the Beltway

Susan Jacobson / Orlando Sentinel:
Elderly couple abandons their home after address is posted on Twitter as that of George Zimmerman

Discussion: nation.foxnews.com, Mediaite, msnbc.com, ABCNEWS, The Hinterland Gazette, RedState, The Raw Story, American Power, ECHIDNE of the snakes, Clayton Cramer's Blog, THE WESTERN EXPERIENCE, The Gateway Pundit and The Smoking Gun

Joel Gehrke / Campaign 2012:
Dem pulled from House floor for Trayvon hoodie

Discussion: Scared Monkeys, Naked Politics, protein wisdom and Business Insider

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: Hot Air, Politico and Conservatives4Palin

Marco Rubio / CNN:

TRENDING: Rubio endorses Romney, argues GOP should ‘come together’ — (CNN) - Marco Rubio, a senator whose name was floated first as a possible presidential, then vice presidential candidate, on Wednesday made an endorsement in the presidential race, saying, “It's evidently and increasingly clear …

Discussion: Politico and The Hill

Michael Falcone / ABCNEWS:
Marco Rubio Endorses Mitt Romney, Avoids Vice Presidential Speculation

Discussion: The Caucus

Justin Sink / The Hill:
Rubio: 'I'm not going to be the vice presidential nominee'

Discussion: msnbc.com, Michelle Malkin, Scared Monkeys, M.JOSEPH SHEPPARD'S … and GOP 12

David A. Fahrenthold / Washington Post:
Mitt's ‘Romniacs’ united by an uncommon passion for the Republican hopeful

Discussion: Hot Air, American Prospect, BuzzFeed and Ricochet Conversations Feed

Paul D. Shinkman / WTOP.com:
Gingrich: Like a struggling sports team, I'm not quitting

Discussion: Politico, Los Angeles Times, News Desk, FiveThirtyEight and The Hill

Greg Holyk / ABCNEWS:
Record Number See Romney Negatively; Obama Outpaces Him in Popularity

Discussion: Daily Kos, Jay Bookman, M.JOSEPH SHEPPARD'S …, The Caucus, Conservatives4Palin, American Prospect, Washington Monthly, The Maddow Blog, The Daily Dish, Little Green Footballs, GOP 12, Ballot Box, ThinkProgress, Prairie Weather and msnbc.com

JSOnline:

Romney gets flak over Wisconsin anecdote from long ago — Normal — false — false — false — EN-US — X-NONE — X-NONE — MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 — <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" DefUnhideWhenUsed="true" — DefSemiHidden="true" DefQFormat="false" DefPriority="99"

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Daily Kos, The Loyal Opposition, Wonkette, Shakesville, Mediaite, Stinque, The New Republic, Examiner, Ballot Box and The Stranger …

Janet Reitman / Rolling Stone:

Confessions of an Ivy League Frat Boy: Inside Dartmouth's Hazing Abuses — A Dartmouth degree is a ticket to the top - but first you may have to get puked on by your drunken friends and wallow in human filth — Andrew Lohse visits the Dartmouth campus where he has come forward to report …

Discussion: Felix Salmon and Corrente

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: Deadline.com, 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, Newsy, EURweb, The Hinterland Gazette, L.A. NOW and Colorlines

Dylan Byers / Politico:

CNN's Toobin discusses the Toobin factor — CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin continued to set the tone on the media's coverage of the Supreme Court's health care arguments today. Following up on yesterday's analysis that this was a “train wreck” for the Obama administration …

Discussion: NewsBusters.org and Washington Post

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

Ssumner / TheMoneyIllusion:

Banana republic watch — The new DeLong and Summers paper looks impressive enough. I don't buy their argument for fiscal stimulus, but I am willing to listen respectfully to the hysteresis argument (which seems central to their self-financing stimulus argument.)

Discussion: Modeled Behavior

Michael Wilson / City Room:

On ‘Mad Men,’ an Opening Scene Straight From Page 1 — The opening scenes of Sunday's season five premiere of “Mad Men,” set in 1966, depicted a sort of knucklehead-racism at work, when young men from the ad agency Young & Rubicam dropped bags filled with water on protesters picketing on the Madison Avenue sidewalk below.

Discussion: Liberal Values and Poynter