Audible exhalation as health care ruling is read

WASHINGTON — An audible exhalation rippled through the courtroom through when Chief Justice John Roberts revealed the Supreme Court would uphold the requirement in President Barack Obama's health care overhaul that nearly every American have insurance.

Onlookers, including justices' spouses and retired Justice John Paul Stevens, had to wait several minutes for Roberts to make clear the law's individual mandate had been upheld. And when all the opinions and dissents had been read, a crowd inside the courtroom applauded as the justices left until October.

Outside, a crowd stood waiting for the decision, with belly dancers in red and blue shimmying to a drummer's beat and dueling protesters chanting “Hey, hey, ho, ho, Obamacare has got to go,” or, “We love Obamacare.”