After Solicitor General Donald Verrilli Jr. argued at the U.S. Supreme Court in March to uphold the individual mandate at the center of the health care reform bill, the initial reviews of his performance were–how shall we say this–less than glowing.
Mother Jones called Verrilli’s performance “one of the most spectacular flameouts in the history of the court.” The Washington Post gave Verrilli its dubious “Worst Week in Washington” award. This 39-second mash-up of coughs, stumbles, stutters, and water-drinking sounds Verrilli made during the second day of arguments went viral. And CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin told POLITICO that Verrilli was “passive,” “stumbling,” and “nervous,” and then hit the CNN airwaves to declare the argument “a train wreck for the Obama administration” before saying “this law looks like it’s going to be struck down.”
