Unconstitutional...

Fourteen states have filed lawsuits over health insurance reform, all based on the claim that the law's requirement that everyone purchase insurance is unconstitutional. Republican attorneys general of Florida, Alabama, Colorado, Idaho, Michigan, Nebraska, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, and Washington, as well as the Democratic attorney general of Louisiana have all filed suit, and one supposes that with a 5-to-4 Republican majority on the Supreme Court--and if you believe that the SCOTUS is a "non-partisan" institution, I have some reclaimed swampland in Florida I'd love to sell you--there's some chance the law might get overturned.

Bring it on, I say. Such a turn of events would be...clarifying. For one thing, it would give the lie to the idea of Roberts et al eschewing judicial activism and legislation from the bench. For another, it would lend momentum to the push for even more meaningful, comprehensive health care reform:

"So, you say it's unconstitutional for the government to force you to buy private health insurance? All righty, then. How about instead we just abolish private health insurance altogether and expand Medicare to cover the entire population? Would you call that unconstitutional? How so? Is it unconstitutional for Medicare to provide insurance coverage for your grandmother right now? If not, then why should it be unconstitutional for Medicare to cover you and your children too?"