Let me finish with this.
For the first time in our lives, the Supreme Court is the most pivotal branch of our government. Those nine people up there could have more power on three top issues than a Speaker of the House, a whole body of senators, the President of the United States.
Will Obamacare be allowed to continue? Will people with moderate incomes still receive the subsidies that allow families like them to afford health insurance? That depends on how a pair of swing justices — Chief Justice John Roberts, who voted Obamacare to be constitutional, and Anthony Kennedy — read the law which Congress passed creating the program.
Could President Obama’s executive orders of last autumn not go into effect? Will those five million people who entered the country illegally not attain legal status here? It could well go to the Supreme Court for a decision on the separation of powers, where the division lies between executive discretion and policy-making.
Marriage equality. Again, it comes down to those two members of the U.S. Supreme Court — Chief John Roberts and Associate Justice Anthony Kennedy. Will same-sex marriage be viewed as a constitutional right in this country?
Don’t ask Mitch McConnell or Speaker Boehner or the Tea Party or President Obama. Ask the Supreme Court deciders Roberts and Kennedy because when you want to know what the law of the land is, check with the firm of Roberts & Kennedy.
They know because these two blokes are the pair who could well decide.
Chris Matthews