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The entire health care sphere has been bracing for what might happen and all the chaos that might ensue from what the court might do, but the ruling doesn't change much about the Affordable Care Act.

There was a lot of speculation about how the Supreme Court would decide, but almost every prognostication was wrong: from who the swing vote would be (it was Chief Justice John Roberts, who wrote the opinion), to what the basis for the opinion would be (it wasn't the Commerce Clause).

The law was upheld thanks to Chief Justice John Roberts, who sided with the court's more liberal wing, on a very narrow grounds: Instead of saying Congress has the authority to regulate interstate commerce, they said Congress has the authority to levy taxes. And the penalty for people who do not have health care is a tax and therefore constitutional.

Renee Montagne and Linda Wertheimer has the latest on the Supreme Court's ruling on the Affordable Care Act. The court ruled that the law — with its "individual mandate," or requirement that virtually all Americans buy health insurance — is constitutional.

Transcript

RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:

The Supreme Court has just wrapped up its term with one of the most consequential cases in decades.

LINDA WERTHEIMER, HOST:

The justices have ruled that the landmark health care law that has become a signature of Barack Obama's presidency is largely upheld. The opinions run hundreds of pages. We're looking at all those pages now and we'll bring you detailed news and analysis all morning.

This comes from National Geographic, not The National Enquirer:

"Nearly two-thirds (65 percent) of Americans think [President] Barack Obama would be better suited than fellow presidential candidate Mitt Romney to handle an alien invasion."

Outside the U.S. Supreme Court early this morning, there were some tired faces, quite a few smiles and the vibe you sometimes feel when a pack of marathoners is nearing the finish line.

Everyone's tired, but there's a sense of anticipation that the long legal slog is almost over.

Three months after historic arguments before the high court over the constitutionality of the administration's sweeping health care law, we're about to find out if it will hold up.

Two fresh bits of economic data, neither of which change the picture much if at all:

-- The Employment and Training Administration says there were 386,000 first-time claims for unemployment insurance last week, down 6,000 from the week before. But it also revised up that previous week's estimate, from the initial report of 387,000.