SCOTUS health care ruling: The reaction on cable news, Twitter

ByABC News
June 28, 2012, 12:03 PM

— --

The Supreme Court upheld the individual insurance mandate of President Obama's "Affordable Health Care Act" in a 5-4 decision on Thursday, sending cable news and Twitter into a frenzy.

Moments after the 193-page ruling was released by the court, several media outlets--including CNN and Fox News--erroneously reported on-air that the mandate had been struck down.

"BREAKING NEWS: INDIVIDUAL MANDATE STRUCK DOWN," CNN's on-screen scroll blared. "Supreme Court finds measure unconstitutional."

It was a " Dewey Defeats Truman" moment for the 21st Century, New York Times reporter Charlie Savage tweeted, pointing to a screengrab of CNN's premature scroll.

CNN.com's homepage mirrored the on-air report--inspiring at least one timely photo illustration: President Obama, as Harry Truman, proudly displaying the CNN homepage on his iPad.

An anonymous Twitter feed-- @BreakingCNN--was quickly launched to chronicle CNN's gaffes both real and imagined.

CNN, though, was not alone in its rush to report the news.

"Fox News was so eager to see the healthcare mandate fail they forgot to read past the 1st page of the ruling," Jason Keath wrote, pointing to a screengrab of the network's breaking news stumble.

And late Wednesday, the Chicago Sun-Times accidentally published the shell of what their front page story would've looked like had the voted against the individual mandate.

On Twitter, Chief Justice John Roberts, who joined the liberal wing of the court in upholding the mandate, began trending both in the U.S. and worldwide.

"Judging by my Twitter feed," Buzzfeed's McCay Coppins wrote, "Chief Justice Roberts is now conservative public enemy number one."

"Roberts is the Severus Snape of the Supreme Court," Jezebel.com's Erin Gloria Ryan tweeted.

"Obama lied to the American people. Again," former Alaskan governor Sarah Palin tweeted. "He said it wasn't a tax. Obama lies; freedom dies."

"Don't worry," former head Onion writer Joe Garden wrote on Twitter. "Despite the health care ruling, America will still find a way to crush its poor."