When is the Supreme Court going to issue its ruling on the constitutionality of the health care law? It might happen Monday morning. Or later in the week. The Court keeps these things close to its collective vest. If it happens Monday morning, it would be around 10 a.m.
One of the best resources is the Scotusblog, which will be live blogging tomorrow morning here. We will have the Courts opinion online.
What's interesting here is that a release of around 10 a.m. means that the stock markets will be open and trading underway for about a half hour. No matter which way the Court rules in this case, it will have the potential to move markets, given that health care spending is a huge chunk of the economy and big businesses -- insurance companies, pharmaceutical companies, companies that own hospitals -- have a lot at stake here.
It will be interesting to see, once the ruling comes out, how the markets react. The ruling will actually be a set of rulings on various parts of the law, so the challenge for investors will be to try to figure out what the Court has done and how it affects health care businesses.
Then there is the larger political impact. If the Court strikes down the whole law, that could cut several ways. It could be seen as a major setback for President Obama. Or it could take health care off the table for the fall election, taking away a Republican issue. I've seen both cases made. Frankly, I think the economy and jobs are a lot more important to the outcome of the election than the health care law.
