How many winners in health-care ruling?

Supporters of President Obama’s health-care reform law were elated on June 28—and a bit surprised—by the Supreme Court’s narrow decision upholding the landmark legislation.

But social and religious conservatives quickly reacted as if the 5–4 ruling in favor of the White House was a political boon for the November elections. The majority opinion said the law’s mandate to buy health insurance is legal under Congress’s power to raise taxes—a fighting word to social conservatives. Meanwhile, evangelicals and Catholic bishops vowed to battle the health-care law on what they say are its violations of religious liberty.

“You can take to the bank that the decision to uphold Obamacare will energize the Tea Party, evangelicals, and the broader Republican base like we haven’t seen before. Yes, more than 2010,” said David Brody, chief political correspondent for the Christian Broadcasting Network and author of a new book, The Teavangelicals: The Inside Story of How the Evangelicals and the Tea Party Are Taking Back America.