Obama warns 'unelected' Supreme Court

[WLJ]

Obama warns 'unelected' Supreme Court against striking down health law

Published April 02, 2012

| FoxNews.com

AP

April 2, 2012: President Obama, Mexico's President Felipe Calderon, left, and Canada's Prime Minister Stephen Harper take part in a joint news conference in the Rose Garden.

President Obama, employing his strongest language to date on the Supreme Court review of the federal health care overhaul, cautioned the court Monday against overturning the law -- while repeatedly saying he's "confident" it will be upheld.

The president spoke at length about the case at a joint press conference with the leaders of Mexico and Canada. The president, adopting what he described as the language of conservatives who fret about judicial activism, questioned how an "unelected group of people" could overturn a law approved by Congress.

"I'm confident that the Supreme Court will not take what would be an unprecedented, extraordinary step of overturning a law that was passed by a strong majority of a democratically elected Congress," Obama said.

The Supreme Court spent three days hearing arguments last week in four separate challenges to the health care law, which stands as the president's signature domestic policy accomplishment. A central challenge was over the individual mandate -- the requirement that Americans buy health insurance. Critics say the mandate is unconstitutional, and that the federal government cannot force people into the insurance marketplace.

Obama on Monday said that without such a mandate, the law would not have a mechanism to ensure those with preexisting conditions get health care.

"I'm confident that this will be upheld because it should be upheld," Obama said, describing the law as "constitutional."

The president spoke following meetings with Mexican President Felipe Calderon and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper. Until the heath care case remarks, the press conference was focused mostly on economic issues, as well as the war on drugs.

The leaders vowed a new effort to boost North American trade and cut needless regulation that stifles it. "Our three nations are going to sit down together, go through the books and simplify and eliminate more regulations that will make our joint economies stronger," Obama said.

Obama noted trade among the three neighbors now tops $1 trillion a year, and he wants to see that number rise.

But notable by its absence from the post-summit news conference in the Rose Garden was the controversial Keystone XL oil pipeline from Canada's oil sands in Alberta to the U.S. Gulf of Mexico. Obama shelved the plan pending further review -- and has endured ferocious GOP attacks ever since, with Republicans calling the move a blow to job creation and U.S. energy needs. He maintains GOP leaders in Congress forced his hand by insisting on a decision before an acceptable pipeline route was found.

Harper has voiced disappointment with Obama's decision. He also visited China in February to explore alternatives. Canada has the world's third-largest oil reserves -- more than 170 billion barrels -- after Saudi Arabia and Venezuela, and daily production of 1.5 million barrels from the oil sands is expected to rise to 3.7 million by 2025.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/04 ... z1qvA2Nxm4

[ssracer]

He is so full of himself it is astonishing

[ChopperDoc]

Hey, Obama Numb Nuts...it's called checks and balances last time I checked. The "unelected" judicial branch is supposed to be checking your shit to make sure you are not trampling the Constitution.

Can the sumbitch really be that stupid? And I thought Biden was a dumbass.

[WLJ]

Hey, Obama Numb Nuts...it's called checks and balances last time I checked. The "unelected" judicial branch is supposed to be checking your shit to make sure you are not trampling the Constitution.

Can the sumbitch really be that stupid? And I thought Biden was a dumbass.

Biden really is that stupid. Everyone else being that stupid is what Obama is counting on.

[325MOUTguru]

Mussolini......


Just sayin

[Nolan]

THEY ARE BOTH EXTRA STUPID--SCARY THING IS THEY MIGHT BE AROUND FOR 4 MORE YEARS

[Wyldman]

There's still hope if Onumbnuts gets "re-elected" if we can take back the Senate and keep the House. If that happens, then we can initiate impeachment proceedings for all of the treasonous acts commited by the Liar in Chief.

[Rem700]

There's still hope if Onumbnuts gets "re-elected" if we can take back the Senate and keep the House. If that happens, then we can initiate impeachment proceedings for all of the treasonous acts commited by the Liar in Chief.

that would just be racist

[ChopperDoc]

MORE:

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/04 ... -congress/

President Obama, for the second day in a row, put public pressure on the Supreme Court to uphold the federal health care overhaul -- saying the court has traditionally shown "deference" to Congress.

The president addressed the case during a meeting with newspaper executives in Washington, D.C., following a lengthy speech on budget priorities.

Asked about the court case, Obama once again said he's confident the law will be upheld while offering words of warning to the high court.

"The Supreme Court is the final say on our Constitution and our laws and all of us have to respect it. But it's precisely because of that extraordinary power that the court has traditionally exercised significant restraint and deference to our duly elected legislature, our Congress," Obama said.

"The burden is on those who would overturn a law like this. Now, as I said, I expect the Supreme Court actually to recognize that and to abide by well established precedents out there," he added.

The president said the administration is not spending much time "planning for contingencies" because he doesn't expect the overhaul to be struck down.

The comments follow his remarks a day earlier during a press conference in which he suggested a ruling against the health care overhaul would be tantamount to "judicial activism." He referred to the justices as "unelected" and questioned how they could overturn a Congress-passed law.

Republicans, though, have accused the president of trying to "intimidate" the court.

Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, top Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, called it a "fantasy" to think "every law you like is constitutional and every Supreme Court decision you don't is 'activist.'"

Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Texas, told Fox News Radio he was "disappointed" by the president's remarks.

"It is not unprecedented at all for the Supreme Court to declare a law unconstitutional; they do that on a regular basis so it's not unprecedented at all," he said. "What is unprecedented is for the president of the United States trying to intimidate the Supreme Court."

The Supreme Court spent three days hearing arguments last week in four separate challenges to the health care law, which stands as the president's signature domestic policy accomplishment. A central challenge was over the individual mandate -- the requirement that Americans buy health insurance. Critics say the mandate is unconstitutional, and that the federal government cannot force people into the insurance marketplace.

[ssracer]

What an arrogant SOB

[ChopperDoc]

Obama and DOJ scolded over "unelected" comments.

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/fed-app ... ted-group/

An excerpt:

Judge Jerry Smith asked the government attorney whether Attorney General Eric Holder believes judges can strike down federal laws.

“Does the Department of Justice recognize that federal courts have the authority in appropriate circumstances to strike federal statutes because of one or more constitutional infirmities?” Judge Smith asked.

The DOJ lawyer, Dana Lydia Kaersvang, answered yes. The lawyer then cited Marbury v. Madison, “the landmark case that firmly established the principle of judicial review more than 200 years ago,” CBS News reports.

However, despite this “clarification,” Judge Smith was unsatisfied, specifically referencing when President Obama called the judges an “unelected group.”

“That has troubled a number of people who have read it as somehow a challenge to the federal courts or to their authority,” Judge Smith said. “And that’s not a small matter.”

He then told the attorneys that the DOJ must address this issue in “no less than three pages, single spaced” by noon on Thursday, according to Fox.

“I would like to have from you by noon on Thursday — that’s about 48 hours from now — a letter stating what is the position of the Attorney General and the Department of Justice, in regard to the recent statements by the president,” Smith said.

“What is the authority is of the federal courts in this regard in terms of judicial review?”

But what’s really going on here? Allahpundit of Hot Air (“Hot Gas,” if you’re from Texas) offers some insight:

…Obama himself never went so far yesterday as to say that the Supreme Court lacks the power to overturn laws. He said overturning ObamaCare specifically would be “unprecedented,” but no true-blue Warren-Court-loving lefty like The One would ever seriously impugn judicial review.

And the Fifth Circuit knows it. What they’re doing here is humiliating him as a way of getting him to stop the demagoguery, with the letter acting as the equivalent of a kid writing on the blackboard as punishment after class. “I will not question Marbury v. Madison, I will not question Marbury v. Madison, I will not question…”

[ssracer]

the boy who would be king