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Obamacare supporters were cheered Wednesday by Justice Anthony Kennedy’s tough grilling of the lead attorney in the latest lawsuit — and the law’s opponents came away nervous. That doesn’t mean the suspense is over and Kennedy will be the deciding vote to save the law. There’s still enough uncertainty about the outcome of King v. Burwell to guarantee that the survival of Obamacare will be in doubt until the Supreme Court rules at the end of June. (Nather, 3/4)

Though both sides said they thought the arguments before the court had gone well, lawyers supporting the Obama administration seemed a bit more confident that the justices will ultimately uphold the controversial federal tax subsidies for health care at the heart of Wednesday’s oral arguments. ... The lawyers who actually made the arguments on Wednesday, from the Justice Department, declined to comment, though White House spokesman Josh Earnest said the administration was “quite pleased” with Verrilli’s performance. When his turn at the microphone came, Washington lawyer Michael A. Carvin, who argued for the plaintiffs, said he is “hopeful and confident that the court will recognize the merits of our statutory interpretation and not let the IRS rewrite the plain language” of the Affordable Care Act. (Markon, 3/4)

The court’s four liberal members voiced strong support for the administration’s position. But Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., who cast the decisive vote to save the law in 2012, said almost nothing on Wednesday, and did not indicate his position. In a pleasant surprise for the administration, however, Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, who was in dissent in 2012, made several comments indicating that his vote was in play. (Liptak, 4/3)

Supporters of the Affordable Care Act struck a confident tone after Wednesday’s oral arguments, saying they don’t expect the Supreme Court will strike down subsidies to millions of Americans who got health insurance. But the same cautious optimism was also expressed by critics of the health law, who said the plaintiffs’ argument is so rock-solid that the justices should decide subsidies provided on HealthCare.gov, the federal exchange, are illegal. (Armour and Wilde Mathews, 3/4)

After hearing arguments for about 90 minutes, the U.S. Supreme Court gave little indication Wednesday about how it plans to rule in the latest challenge to Obamacare. (Williams and Ortiz, 3/4)