President Obama
President Obama has laid down a marker for the standard he will hold the Supreme Court to should they decide to overturn the Affordable Care Act.
President Obama says he remains confident that the Supreme Court will uphold his healthcare reform law, warning Monday that overturning it would be an "unprecedented, extraordinary step." [...]
"I actually continue to be confident that the Supreme Court will uphold the law. And the reason is, because in accordance with precedent out there, it's constitutional.
"That's not just my opinion by the way. That's the opinion of legal experts across the ideological spectrum, including two very conservative appellate court justices that said this wasn't even a close case."
Obama also stressed that that "experts across the ideological spectrum, including conservative appellate court judges, shared his view that precedent supported the measure." That would be experts like
Ronald Reagan's solicitor general Charles Fried.
After the healthcare arguments, Fried was among those who worried aloud about the prospect of the Roberts court embarking on a new era of judicial activism.
If the court were to invalidate the healthcare law, "It would be more problematic than Bush v. Gore," Fried said in an interview, referring to the case that decided the 2000 presidential race. "It would be plainly at odds with precedent, and plainly in conflict with what several of the justices have said before." [...]
Fried had confidently predicted the law would be easily upheld. He said he was taken aback by the tone of the arguments. "The vehemence they displayed was totally inappropriate. They seemed to adopt the tea party slogans," he said.
Pepperdine law professor Douglas W. Kmiec, another top Justice Department lawyer under Reagan, said he hoped the justices would "come to their senses" and uphold the law as a reasonable regulation of interstate commerce.
Fried testified at the confirmation hearing of both Justices Roberts and Alito, arguing that both men "were committed to the rule of law and to precedent," and now just hope "that turns out to be true."
The president makes clear that he would view the Supreme Court striking down the Affordable Care Act the act of a radical and extremist court. He won't be alone.