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Obama Warns Supreme Court On Healthcare Decision

Christine Detz |
April 2, 2012 | 8:25 p.m. PDT

Executive Producer

President Obama called on the Supreme Court to uphold the Affordable Health Care Act
President Obama called on the Supreme Court to uphold the Affordable Health Care Act
President Obama took a nearly unprecedented stand on Monday, urging the Supreme Court to not overstep their mandate and engage in “judicial activism” when it comes to ruling on the constitutionality of the Affordable Health Care Act.

The president made the comments during a Rose Garden press conference.

"For years what we've heard is the biggest problem on the bench was judicial activism or a lack of judicial restraint — that an unelected group of people would somehow overturn a duly constituted and passed law," Obama said.

"Well, this is a good example," he said. "And I'm pretty confident that this Court will recognize that and not take that step."

When asked about the Court’s pending decision, expected in June, Obama said he expected the justices to uphold the legislation. 

 

“I’m confident that this will be upheld because it should be upheld. That’s not just my opinion; that’s the opinion of a whole lot of constitutional law professors and academics and judges and lawyers who have examined this law, even if they’re not particularly sympathetic to this particular piece of legislation or my presidency,” the president said.

According to a report from the Washington Post, Monday’s tough talk from the president is unparalleled, but not the first time he has challenged the Court.

 

  “The reason presidents are reluctant to take on the court is because they are a co-equal branch of government, they have lifetime tenures and they can be very powerful in their own way,” Barbara Perry, a senior fellow fellow at the University of Virginia’s Miller Center for presidential history said. “I would contrast that with Obama’s willingness to take on the court.”

She noted that Obama complained during his 2010 State of the Union address of the court’s decision that year in the Citizens United case, ruling that the First Amendment prohibited the federal government from restricting political expenditures by corporations.

With the robed justices seated in the front row of the House chambers, Obama said that the court “reversed a century of law” to “ open the floodgates for special interests” to influence elections.

“That he called them out in the State of the Union address shows he’s not squeamish about making a face-to-face attack on them,” Perry said.

 

 

 



 

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