Solicitor General Verrilli began his opening arguments in defense of the Affordable Care Act, as many commentators have noted, like a nerd asking the “hot girl” out on a date. In other words, it was awful. For one of the most important court cases in modern history, and perhaps one to join other notable decisions like Roe V. Wade, and the Scopes Monkey Trial, and many others, this is the one time in your life where you make sure you’re prepared and confident. Unfortunately, Verrilli seemed wholly ill-equipped. I guess I can understand there’d be some nerves arguing in front of the Supreme Court, but with Verrilli’s background and judicial history, you wouldn’t think it’d be this bad. One big rule to remember: practice on video and review. Tape yourself and watch the video. Find your weaknesses in the speech, rework them, edit them, and do it again. And if you’re still not comfortable with your performance, you need to rehearse it again. Luckily for Verrilli, he had the Liberal Justices on the Court there to back him up, and they questioned Paul Clement and the States position with as much harshness as the Conservative Justices had gone after Verrilli. With one more day of arguments still to come, we don’t know exactly how poorly Verrilli’s performance will weigh on the outcome of the decision. He didn’t totally blow it, but he didn’t give the President much to cheer about.
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