But Martin Gold, who served as a floor adviser to then-Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.), said the court’s tax distinction probably won’t make the difference.

“It certainly changes it politically,” Gold said. “But in the final analysis, if the Supreme Court had said this was a use of the commerce power … do you have any doubt that Republicans in the next Congress would attempt to repeal it? And do you have any doubt that they would attempt to use budget reconciliation?”

Gold, now a partner at Covington & Burling, said the biggest question is whether repealing the mandate is primarily about the budget…

According to the Congressional Budget Office, the individual mandate will generate about $4 billion per year for the federal government. Although Republicans have seized on the mandate as a tax increase since the court ruled last Thursday, they have spent years attacking it primarily as an encroachment on liberty.