At the end of the day, the Democrat Party dissolution case is likely to generate so much hoopla without any tangible impact on the political landscape.
Even in a worst case scenario, an unfavourable verdict might cause some inconvenience to the Democrats - but politicking will carry on as per usual. Past cases for disbanding did not bring about major change. And the case involving the Democrats will not be any different.
In fact the ruling party's legal predicament is much less severe than the charges faced by two disbanded parties, Thai Rai Thai and People Power.
The judicial decisions for Thai Rak Thai and People Power were about electoral fraud, an offence punishable by the mandatory party dissolution and a five-year ban on party executives.
The Democrats are fighting charges related to the party's financial records. The Political Parties Act was amended after the 2006 coup. In case of conviction on party finance, the punishment does not automatically apply to all Democrats sitting on the party executive board.
Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva is unlikely to be disqualified from holding office regardless of the outcome of the judicial review. There is no justification to draw a hasty conclusion on the future of the coalition alliance.
Abhisit's predicament could not be compared to what befell his two predecessors, Samak Sundaravej and Somchai Wongsawat.
From the viewpoint of the red shirts, there can only be one verdict for the Democrats - guilty as charged. But the pertinent legal issues indicate the case is not so clear-cut.
In the last general election, the Election Commission allocated Bt29 million to the Democrats as part of the state subsidies for party development.
The party spent the funds in a deal for campaign billboards. The initial audit found no foul play although the billboards were about one centimetre short of the regulated version.
There was no evidence of ill-gotten gains, or the intent to downsize the billboards, which was not in the party's interest to have a smaller display without any price reduction.
The EC attached no priority to the case. After the then ruling People Power Party faced two successive court battles, resulting in the removal of Samak and Somchai from office, the reprisal campaign gained momentum to target the Democrats for dissolution.
Pressing their demands, the red shirts rallied in April to pressure the EC to petition for a judicial inquiry into the Democrats' finances.
Scrutiny into the Bt29 million party finances was put on a fast-track review. In less than a month after the red shirts besieged the EC headquarters, the case was submitted to the Constitution Court.
The high court is scheduled next month to start its inquiry into the alleged financial irregularities. If past cases are any indication, the inquiry and the verdict will take about eight months.
The gist of the case is whether the Democrats rigged the party financial records in the face of the substandard billboards. If convicted, the high court will mete out penalties based on provisions enacted before or after the power seizure.
Although the red shirts and the opposition lawmakers are predicting with glee the Democrat dissolution and the disqualification of Abhisit, legal pundits are saying the verdict can go either way.
The Democrats have yet to fight a pending case related to Bt258 million in campaign finance which was allegedly laundered as publicity payments before being channelled back to the Democrats.
In both cases, the worst that can happen is the bruising of some egos for the failure to sustain the oldest political party. But the Democrats will remain on the scene under a different banner.