No, he’s correct. These rulings are on temporary status imposed by the courts. The courts decision on the merits is yet to come.
I agree. We just won a temporary victory, i.e. the Supreme Court “stayed” the mandate for now until the lower court rules on the actual constitutionality of the mandate.
The Sixth Court of Appeal could say that the mandate is constitutional. Actually it lifted the mandate imposed earlier by the Fifth Circuit when the Sixth Court got involved after it was designated to hear the various related cases. So, the Sixth Circuit may not be too unfriendly to the mandates. However, today’s ruling by the Supreme Court, while not directly on point, suggests that the Supreme Court doesn’t view the mandate to favorably. Thus, it is possible that the Sixth Circuit could take that into account when it finally rules on the constitutionality of the mandate.
If the Sixth Circuit rules that the mandate is constitutional, then we just have to hope that the Supreme Court is willing to accept an appeal (it doesn’t have to) and then, if so, to rule in our favor.
We’ll see. This is not over.