Okay, maybe President Obama didn’t really say that. Or did he. Let’s take a look.“Ultimately, 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.
And I would like to remind conservative commentators that for years what we have heard is that the biggest problem is judicial activism and that an unelected group of people would somehow overturn a duly constituted and passed law.
Well, this is a good example and I’m pretty confident this court will recognize that and not take that step.”
A strong majority? Really?? The final vote in the House was 219-212, with 34 Democrats joining every Republican in voting no. If that’s a “strong majority” I wonder what he would call a close vote.
Let’s take a look at a few other Supreme Court decisions and apply Obama’s criteria to their decision.
Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857)
The court ruled that people of African descent brought into the United States and held as slaves were not protected by the Constitution and were not U.S. citizens. Therefore, Dred Scott, a slave, had no standing before the court to claim that his presence and residence in free territories required his emancipation.
Obama would agree with the court. Don’t overturn democratically passed laws. Slaves are not protected by the Constitution. Keep them in chains.
Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)
The court upheld the constitutionality of state laws requiring racial segregation in public facilities under the doctrine of “separate but equal.”
Obama would agree with the court. Don’t overturn democratically passed laws. Keep the blacks separate.
Brown v. Board of Education (1954)
The court declared state laws establishing separate public schools for black and white students unconstitutional. The decision overturned Plessy v. Ferguson.
Obama would disagree with the court. Don’t overturn democratically passed laws. Keep the blacks separate.
Loving v. Virginia (1967)
The court ruled that the prohibition on interracial marriage was unconstitutional. Sixteen states that still banned interracial marriage were forced to revise their laws.
Obama would disagree with the court. Don’t overturn democratically passed laws. Black shouldn’t be allowed to marry whites.
And, although it doesn’t involve race…
Roe v. Wade (1973)
The court ruled that state laws preventing first trimester abortions were unconstitutional.
Obama would disagree with the court. Don’t overturn democratically passed laws. Abortion should still be illegal.
There are countless other Supreme Court decisions that could be used to show how ridiculous Obama’s statement was. It was a blatant attempt at intimidating the court. Ironically, the vote has already been taken by the Justices, but won’t be made public until opinions are written. The fate of Obamacare has already been decided. We just have to wait to find out what it is.
Obama’s swipe at the court didn’t go unanswered by Republicans. GOP Sen. Orrin Hatch (Utah) said Obama shouldn’t try to put blame on the court for rejecting his “signature domestic achievement.”
“It must be nice living in a fantasy world where every law you like is constitutional and every Supreme Court decision you don’t is ‘activist,'” Hatch said.
Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX) fired back at Obama, saying, “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. What is unprecedented is for the President of the United States trying to intimidate the Supreme Court.”
If Obama had his way, the Supreme Court would probably not exist. Unless, of course, they agreed with him.
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