On SCOTUS Steps, Santorum Takes Aim at Romney

UPDATE: Rick Santorum made an appearance Monday afternoon on the steps of the Supreme Court, where he continued his attacks on both President Obama's health care reform law and his chief GOP rival.

As expected, Santorum took the opportunity to stress his latest campaign narrative: That Mitt Romney would be unable to make Obamacare an issue in the general election because of the state health care law he signed while governor of Massachusetts.

"It's the reason I'm here and he's not," Santorum said of Romney, Politico reports, "the reason I talk about Obamacare and its impact on the economy and fundamental freedoms and Mitt Romney doesn’t."

The former senator said that the issue isn't whether Romney would repeal the national law as he has suggested he would if elected, but instead that the GOP front-runner "won’t have the mandate through the course of this campaign to be able to win the argument not just here in Congress but across the country."

Monday, March 26: Rick Santorum has repeatedly bashed President Obama's health care reform effort, so it's no surprise that the GOP hopeful is turning the Supreme Court's hearing on the constitutionality of the law into a campaign stop.

The former senator's camp tells the Hill that Santorum will make an appearance on the steps of the high court at around noon on Monday. It's unclear if the candidate will make a speech or merely mingle with protesters, but regardless, the appearance is sure to secure him some additional media coverage.

If Santorum does speak, it will be interesting to see who will face the brunt of his attacks against the Affordable Care Act: Obama or Mitt Romney. While he's likely to name-drop both, the latter may be the chief target, given Santorum's recent remarks.

On Sunday, Santorum called Romney "the worst Republican in the country to put up against Barack Obama," because "Romneycare," the Massachusetts health care reform law Romney supported, was the "blueprint" for "Obamacare."

When pressed by reporters after the speech to elaborate about that comment, Santorum lashed out at the New York Times' Jeff Zeleny, accusing the press of attempting to mischaracterize his remarks. "Quit distorting my words," Santorum said. "It’s bullshit."

As Politico reports, the former senator has since tried to make lemonade out of the loss of temper. "If you haven’t cursed out a New York Times reporter during the course of a campaign, you’re not really a real Republican," he said Monday.

The Supreme Court is hearing arguments on the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act this week. Elsewhere in Slate, Dahlia Lithwick argues that the Supreme Court's decision on the Affordable Care Act will have very little to do with constitutionality and precedent, and quite a lot to do with politics and public opinion.