The Supreme Court's "Naked Power Grab"

We have two reads concerning the decision by at least four Supreme Court "Justices" to hear a patently malicious and absurd case (King v. Burwell) that could kill the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare).  First, E.J. Dionne, Jr., examines "Justice" Scalia's situational principles, and concludes:

Here’s a hypothetical for you: First, the Supreme Court issues a ruling that installs a conservative president. Then, he appoints two conservative Supreme Court justices who then join with three of their colleagues to make mincemeat of the greatest achievement of a progressive president elected by a clear majority. If such a thing happened in any other country, would we still call it a democratic republic?

Please read the whole column.

Then, Linda Greenhouse writes the the Court may be preparing another un-democratic, right-wing coup reminiscent of another:

Nearly a week has gone by since the Supreme Court’s unexpected decision to enlist in the latest effort to destroy the Affordable Care Act, and the shock remains unabated. “This is Bush v. Gore all over again,” one friend said as we struggled to absorb the news last Friday afternoon. “No,” I replied. “It’s worse.” [snip]

So no, this isn’t Bush v. Gore. This is a naked power grab by conservative justices who two years ago just missed killing the Affordable Care Act in its cradle, before it fully took effect. 

With Republicans soon to have bulletproof control both houses of Congress and with its existing majority on the Supreme Court, this decision to hear King v. Burwell, coming so soon after the midterm Republican resurgence, looks evermore like the Court reactionaries are making a bold push to kill Obamacare on the most absurd and mendacious grounds.  Having already tilted the playing field toward Republicans (voter i.d. and voting rights, Citizens United, etc.), the Court now appears ready to take health insurance away from millions of Americans just so it can destroy arguably the signature progressive legislation of the past 50 years.

To echo Dionne, would we still call this a democratic republic?