In this context, Ezra Klein makes a relevant point. “By the time [the Supreme Court] even could rule on Halbig the law will have been in place for years. The Court simply isn’t going to rip insurance from tens of millions of people due to an uncharitable interpretation of congressional grammar.” Ezra unfairly derides the legal issues at play, and exaggerates the policy implications, but he asks the right political question.

Chief Justice Roberts, you may recall, was the justice who singlehandedly re-wrote Obamacare in order to justify the legality of the law’s individual mandate. He did so, it appears, because he was more worried about left-wing criticism of the Court than he was about constitutional precision. It’s hard to believe he wouldn’t act the same way here…

But the bottom line is that if taxpayer-funded subsidies can’t flow through healthcare.gov—the federal exchange—nearly every state will set up its own exchange. And subsidies will flow through the federal exchange until John Roberts says they can’t. No death spiral is imminent. No collapse is forthcoming. Obamacare is going nowhere.