By Jonathan Easley and Amie Parnes - 04/02/12 02:36 PM ET
President Obama on Monday said he is confident the Supreme Court will
uphold his healthcare reform law and warned a ruling against it would
be an "unprecedented" act of judicial activism.
Speaking at a Rose Garden press conference alongside Mexican President
Felipe Calderon and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Obama
weighed in for the first time on last week's high court hearings,
which left many Democrats fearful that the court is poised to strike
down his signature domestic achievement.
"I'm confident the Supreme Court will uphold the law," Obama said.
"The reason is, because in accordance with precedent out there, it's
constitutional.
"That's not just my opinion, by the way," Obama continued. "That's the
opinion of legal experts across the ideological spectrum, including
two very conservative appellate court justices."
The president said it would be "unprecedented" for the court to strike
down the individual mandate to have insurance because the law was
passed by "a strong majority of a democratically elected Congress."
Obama warned the high court against "a lack of judicial restraint," in
which "an unelected group of people would somehow overturn a duly
constituted and passed law."
Beyond the judicial aspect, the president defended the individual
mandate to have insurance, saying there's a "human element" to the
law, and that it's the only way to provide healthcare to those with
pre-existing conditions.
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"This is not an abstract argument," Obama said. "People's lives are
affected by the lack of availability of healthcare."
The president argued, "Americans all across the country are getting
preventative care because of this law," and that "doesn't count the 30
million people who stand to gain coverage" in 2014.
Opponents of the healthcare law say the insurance mandate is a
breathtaking expansion of federal power that is unsupported by the
Constitution, and many of the Supreme Court justices appeared
receptive to that argument last week. After the arguments ended,
Republicans were optimistic that the healthcare reform law would be
struck down, while Democrats warned against reading too much into the
arguments.
During the press conference, a reporter asked Obama if he had a
contingency plan in place if the healthcare law is struck down. The
president did not answer the question directly, simply reiterating,
"As I said, we're confident that this will be upheld.
"I'm confident this will be upheld because it should be upheld," he
said. "Again, that's not just my opinion. That's the opinion of a
whole lot of constitutional law professors, academics, judges and
lawyers who examined this law, even if they're not particularly
sympathetic to this particular piece of legislation or my presidency."
Some legal watchers panned Solicitor General Donald Verrilli's
presentation at the oral arguments last week, with CNN's Jeffrey
Toobin describing the Obama legal case as a "train wreck." Obama did
not speak about Verrilli's performance before the high court last
week, but White House officials have backed the solicitor general.
Verrilli "delivered a solid performance before the Supreme Court.
That's a fact. We feel good about his performance," White House
spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters last week.
Senate Democrats were also infuriated by comments Justice Antonin
Scalia made during the hearings. Scalia mocked a provision of the bill
that had been removed two years ago, and joked that the bill was too
long to read.
Up until Monday, it was unclear what Obama himself was thinking about
the Supreme Court case. Senior administration officials said on Monday
that the president had read the transcripts of the proceedings and had
followed news accounts.
The Supreme Court is expected to rule on the healthcare law in June.
At the press conference, Calderon also weighed in on the healthcare
question, saying the United States should follow Mexico's lead.
"Of the 120 million Mexicans, 160 million will have universal
healthcare coverage," Calderon said. "So I would say that I would hope
that one of the greatest countries of the world, the United States,
could follow our example in achieving this because it was a great
thing."
--
Together, we can change the world, one mind at a time.
Have a great day,
Tommy
--
Together, we can change the world, one mind at a time.
Have a great day,
Tommy
--
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