At the Supreme Court today, much of the discussion dealt with what I do for a living.

The legal question was this: If the Court finds that the individual mandate is unconstitutional, what is the effect on the other provisions of the health care law?

Are all of the other parts of the law nullified? Some? None?

Phrased another way, should the judiciary revise the legislation or should the Congress, which wrote it in the first place?

None of the justices has ever run for office or had to count to a number higher than five to reach a majority.

The late Justice William Brennan reportedly said that counting to five is the most important principle of constitutional law because five votes constitute a majority on the Supreme Court.

Several of the Justices spoke today of their need for a test, an objective standard that would apply to similar cases in the future. (They also made clear their less than favorable view of the legislative process, as today’s transcript demonstrates.)

In Annapolis, our guiding principles are our assessment of sound public policy and how to address the ideological and political needs of 71 members, a majority of the House of Delegates.