Henican: Politics may decide health care ruling

Here it comes, the biggest decision of the U.S. Supreme Court's current term, and the stakes could not be much higher.

And does anyone really believe the decision will be made strictly on the legal and constitutional merits? Freed from all partisan political concern? That was a beautiful concept, enshrined in the Constitution, this idea of a court of wise and dispassionate minds. Lately, court decisions are more a matter of power and wrangling. Politics keeps trumping law.

The justices have always had their clunker rulings. But with Bush v. Gore in 2000, a 5-4 court installed a president on reasoning so tortured it needed a warning label: Don't even think of applying this to any other case. And in the 2010 Citizens United case, another 5-4 decision turned the current election cycle into a runaway bidding war.

It's dangerous predicting court decisions. But in the health care oral arguments, everyone lined up as predicted -- 5-4 against the president. And 50 percent of Americans recently told The Washington Post-ABC News poll they expect the court to base this decision on "partisan political views." Only 40 percent said "on the basis of the law." That 40 percent must not follow the court too closely.

1. Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857): Runaway slaves not free, even in free states.

2. Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad (1886): Corporations are people, too.

3. Plessy v. Ferguson (1896): Upholding "separate but equal."

4. Schenck v. United States (1919): Harmless leaflets a "clear and present danger."

5. Adkins v. Children's Hospital (1923): No minimum wage for women.

Some guys just get a brain aneurysm, have eight or 10 hours of surgery and, after recuperation, go on their way. Not Richard Salgado. The New Hyde Park native walked into the hospital in 2008 with what he thought was an earache -- and he hasn't stopped giving back. On Monday, Salgado, 46, is hosting the Big Daddy Celebrity Golf Classic at Oheka Castle in Huntington to benefit North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System's Brain Aneurysm Center in Manhasset. Big Daddy is a college nickname. These days, Salgado has an insurance practice with a heavy athlete clientele. So Mike Tyson, Tiki Barber, Gary Sheffield and others promise to join the fundraiser. But it's the doctors, nurses and researchers Salgado is most grateful for. "They saved my life," he said. "This really is the least that I can do."

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