What It All Means

I'll have a piece later about the politics of the Supreme Court's PPACA decision, but right now I want to highlight something you've probably already read--because I think it's the most important thing anyone has written about it. Here's Dave Weigel, in a piece on the crowd's reaction:

I heard a peal of delight and turned around -- that's the picture at the top of this post. Hilary Matfess, a young policy analyst, was jumping up and down, yelling out details.

"The mandate is constitutional! It was upheld! Roberts went for the swing vote! Yes! Oh my God! The individual mandate survives as a tax!"

Did you work on passing the bill? I asked.

"No!" said Matfess. "I just have lupus!"

That's it right there. Those were (and remain) the stakes in this fight.