The Supreme Court ruling expected this week on the federal health care overhaul could go one of several ways -- the court could strike the law, uphold the law or come out with some ruling that splits the difference. 

Here are the possible scenarios for how the court could rule:

Uphold the law
In what would be the best-case scenario for the Obama administration, the Supreme Court could uphold the entire Affordable Care Act. This means the court would rule the individual mandate -- the requirement that most Americans buy health insurance -- as constitutional.

Strike down the law
In what would be a crushing defeat for the Obama administration, the Supreme Court could knock down the entirety of the Affordable Care Act. In this case, the court would rule the individual mandate unconstitutional, and also rule that the mandate is not "severable" from the rest of the law. Meaning that, if the mandate goes down, the rest of the law goes down with it.