Obama confident the health law will be upheld

Apr 4 2012

In his first public comments about the law since last week's Supreme Court oral arguments, President Barack Obama not only defended the measure and maintained confidence that it would not be overturned, but he also offered warnings against judicial activism.    

The Wall Street Journal: Obama Warns Supreme Court
President Barack Obama predicted Monday that the Supreme Court would uphold his signature health-care law and said that overturning it would be a prime example of judicial overreach. It was a rare instance of a president laying out his own arguments about a Supreme Court case before the justices are set to reach their decision (Meckler and Lee, 4/2).

The Associated Press: Obama Confident Health Care Law Will Be Upheld
President Barack Obama offered a firm defense of his health care law, saying Monday he remains confident that the law will be upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court and warning that "unelected" justices should not overturn the will of Congress. "We are confident that this will be upheld because it should be upheld," Obama said during a joint news conference with the leaders of Canada and Mexico. Obama said bluntly: "It's constitutional" (Feller, 4/2).

The New York Times: President Confident Health Law Will Stand
On Monday, Mr. Obama rejected the idea that the individual mandate could be struck down without crippling the whole law. "I think the justices should understand that, in the absence of an individual mandate, you cannot have a mechanism to insure that people with pre-existing conditions can actually get health care," he said. The White House has insisted it is not developing contingency plans if the law is struck down. While a negative ruling would be a major symbolic defeat for the president, it is not clear how it would affect his re-election bid (Landler, 4/2).

USA Today: Obama Warns Against 'Judicial Activism' On Health Care Law
Obama predicted the justices would uphold the law, despite strong reservations voiced by four conservative justices about its requirement that most Americans buy insurance or pay a penalty. A fifth justice, Clarence Thomas, is widely expected to vote against the "individual mandate" (Wolf and Jackson, 4/2).

Market Watch: Obama Warns Supreme Court On Health-Care Law
President Barack Obama on Monday said he was confident that the Supreme Court would uphold the constitutionality of his signature health-care law. "We are confident this will be upheld, because it should be upheld," Obama said in a joint press conference in the Rose Garden with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Mexican President Felipe Calderon (Robb, 4/2).

Reuters: Obama Takes A Shot At Supreme Court Over Healthcare
President Barack Obama took an opening shot at conservative justices on the Supreme Court on Monday, warning that a rejection of his sweeping healthcare law would be an act of "judicial activism" that Republicans say they abhor. Obama, a Democrat, had not commented publicly on the Supreme Court's deliberations since it heard arguments for and against the healthcare law last week (Mason, 4/2).

Politico: Obama, The Left Take On Supreme Court
President Barack Obama has joined a growing number of Democratic lawmakers, left-leaning commentators and progressive activists who are warning the Supreme Court on the health care law: Don' you dare overturn it (Budoff Brown and Epstein, 4/3).

CNN: Obama Says Health Care Law Is Constitutional
President Barack Obama weighed in Monday on last week's Supreme Court arguments about health care reform, saying he expected the justices to rule the act is constitutional. "In accordance with precedents out there, it is constitutional," Obama said of the 2010 Affordable Care and Prevention Act passed by congressional Democrats with no Republican support. "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" (Cohen, 4/2).

Fox News: Obama Warns 'Unelected' Supreme Court Against Striking Down Health Law
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 (4/2).

The Hill: Dems Wage Pressure Campaign On Supreme Court Over Health Ruling
Democrats have waged a not-so-subtle pressure campaign on the Supreme Court in recent days by warning a ruling against the healthcare reform law would smash precedent and threaten popular social programs. President Obama ... declared Monday that a wide array of legal experts would be astonished if the court struck down part or all of his signature domestic initiative. … Nan Aron, president of the Alliance for Justice and a prominent advocate during Supreme Court confirmation battles, said Obama and Democrats have made it clear that they would fiercely criticize a ruling against the healthcare law (Bolton, 4/2).