In June, the Supreme Court upheld President Obama’s healthcare reforms in a ruling that surprised conservatives and liberals

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In June, in the days before the United States Supreme Court was to issue its landmark ruling on the constitutionality of President Barack Obama’s healthcare reform, the nation went insane with half-baked speculation. Everyone was certain that the sharply polarised court, under the stewardship of Chief Justice John Roberts, would deliver a sharply polarised verdict. There was much hand-wringing and gnashing of teeth, as the prospect of a politically motivated decision from the court highlighted the evaporating line between law and ideology.

In theory, the job of the Supreme Court, whose nine lifetime-appointee justices are supposed to be impartial, is to ensure that the President and Congress act within the limits outlined in the US Constitution. On right and left Americans now worried publicly about the wisdom of turning over vital matters