The Indelible Bonobo Experience

The New Yorker’s Supreme Court reporter Jeffrey Toobin who emphasized that, in the case of big issues like health care, oral arguments have significantly less impact. “In my experience, the higher profile the case, the less oral arguments matter, because the Justices have strong and longstanding views about major constitutional issues.” (via Clarence Thomas Makes News by Stating the Obvious - Politics - The Atlantic Wire)

Meanwhile,

• Solicitor General Donald Verrilli has become the left’s fall guy for wilting like a flower in front of the Supreme Court
• Verrilli’s bruising performance in front of conservative justices Antonin Scalia, Samuel Alito and others has transformed the media calculus and observers are letting him know it
• Last week, The New York Times called him the “lawyer who can simplify the complex” and championed his credentials. “Mr. Verrilli, a veteran of 17 cases before the Supreme Court, five of them since taking over as solicitor general, has been an advocate for the rights of death row inmates and has successfully argued fine points of telecommunications law. He has also had at least 30 cases before federal appeals courts and state supreme courts.”
• Giving him a pass, Ezra Klein added ”Verrilli is weak, but more so b/c the justices were hostile to his argument. That’s the important info here.” Dupree adds “let’s be fair - if the Obama Administration loses this case, it won’t be Verrilli’s fault; but his presentation on Tuesday was not air tight for the justices by any means.”