God save the United States and this honorable Court. Arguments in the ACA case are about to begin

https://www.c-span.org/video/?471185-1/health-care-law-supreme-court-oral-argument

California Solicitor General is up to start and makes the very cogent argument that the ACA cannot be struck down simply because of Republican shenanigans

Roberts first question is on standing and whether not getting insurance is a violation of the ACA

Roberts wants to know if they don't abide by the mandate if they need to check the box that they've ever violated the law in a job application

Thomas is up now and starts with a comparison to not wearing a mask during COVID and not getting insurance and whether or not there's equal standing to enforce

Just good to flag that the Justices are often thinking of other cases when they hear arguments in others

Just a reminder that my work-spouse @AngryBlackLady is live tweeting this circus over at @RewireNewsGroup!

Wow so Thomas really hates the ACA we know this but that was a very active round of questioning by Thomas

Breyer is up and offers the CA Solicitor General the chance to explain how Thomas' theory of standing and severability would basically allow an enormous loophole where plaintiffs don't have to actually SHOW injury but allow conservative federal judges to rule on the law anyway

Alito really likes this idea of standing put forward by Texas and the conservatives bringing this case, likely because there are over 200 Trump judges on the bench and the possibility of progressive legislation in the future

Sotomayor up now and it's like a brand new day in the audio feed

Sotomayor's first question is basically: if the plaintiffs wanted to bring the kind of claim Alito just described they could have. But they didn't.

Sotomayor's line of questioning here really bringing out her background as a prosecutor. It's an art

Kagan up now and goes directly to the state's standing argument, likely looking for a through line to hem in Roberts and .... hopefully one more of her colleagues

In oral arguments like these Kagan is almost always speaking to Roberts for the compromise opinion

Justice Gorsuch up now and I know it's not on the merits but does anyone know if Gorsuch still has a quarantine beard

Gorsuch seems to be willing to rule against the states here on the argument that they have standing to bring this kind of claim but didn't meet the burden of proof at the trial stage MAAAYBE

Justice Kavanaugh up now and my stomach hurts

Everyone is talking about standing

These standing questions are all about what the Democrats are going to do in Congress and how can MAGA's protest in the courts

Now Justice Barrett is up and she's very excited to talk about this case. Super.

Barrett is up now asking about hypotheticals and I remain confused because according to her confirmation testimony lawyers cannot answer hypotheticals

I will say that the California SG does a much better job suffering bullshit from the justices than I ever could

And this is why I get paid to yell on Twitter rather than at the Supreme Court

Don Verrilli is up now and reminder he has saved the ACA for all of us several times already and is a very good advocate

Don Verrilli is a very good Supreme Court advocate

Roberts up with the first question and whether or not the entire law hinges on the ACA's individual mandate

Roberts asks Verrilli "if we spent all that time talking about broccoli for nothing" and all the other health law journalists groan in unison

It's been a long 8 years

Just listening to Verrilli handle Thomas is a good reminder even to me that he's outflanked these justices before

It's gonna be a sweaty couple of months

Wait something is going on with arguments and Roberts is just going to skip over Breyer I guess? That's cool and totally fine

Alito addresses Verrilli the way you would your ex-spouse in an event in public where your children are present and you want to make sure you know they still hate their guts but you're going to get along in public

Justice Sotomayor up now and seriously there is no other justice who can just zero in on the issue like no other

She focuses in on the fact that Republicans could have repealed the mandate to kill the law but they didn't. Because politics.

Still waiting on an answer as to the status of Gorsuch's quarantine beard

Gorsuch is focusing on the merits and the text of the ACA since the mandate was not actually repealed

Ohhhh the fuckery from the Supreme Court is just starting and whoooo boy it's gonna be a long haul with this Court

The glee to which Barrett jumps into her questioning on the ACA is exactly why she was nominated

Imagine enjoying trying to strip 20 million Americans of health care as much as Amy Coney Barrett does