Yes, SCOTUS failed us. But they used the excuse of lower courts saying it was nobody’s business - that nobody had standing. That means that when somebody with standing DOES appear they can come in and make whatever decision they want. They were very deliberate about NOT setting a *legal* precedent. They’ll say Obama got away with it because nobody who had standing challenged his eligibility (because Chelsea Clinton was threatened, according to sources close to the Clintons - and I suspect McCain was as well, and we know Palin was gagged by McCain). But nobody will keep Hillary from challenging the eligibility of Ted Cruz. The whole system hates him because he is antiseptic to their rotting, putrescent corpses. So when he is challenged the courts will be all too happy to say that Hillary has standing, and they will give her the decision that gets rid of Cruz.
By refusing to make a *legal* ruling, there is no legal precedent, so they still have this nuclear option available. Unless we force them to give a legal ruling on the definition of NBC BEFORE the 2012 primary.
At least one of the lawsuits was from an independent candidate for president. If he didn’t have standing, no one had standing.
It was an enforcement loophole that Obama squeezed tightly through, by keeping all of his records sealed. Now there are others who seek to jump through the same enforcement loophole. Soon enough we’ll have guys like the Guvernator who obviously don’t qualify but they’ll “leave it up to the court to decide”. By then, the eligibility requirement is so watered down that it’s meaningless.