EDITORIAL: Obama's war on the courts

EDITORIAL: Obama's war on the courts

 

Word seems to have gone out in liberal circles that Obamacare is in trouble with the Supreme Court. A systematic and unprecedented assault is undermining the integrity of the system in an attempt to defend this highly unpopular law.

 http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/apr/6/obamas-war-on-the-courts/

 Word seems to have gone out in liberal circles that Obamacare is in trouble with the Supreme Court. A systematic and unprecedented assault is undermining the integrity of the system in an attempt to defend this highly unpopular law.

President Obama claimed Tuesday that the court has not overturned a congressional economic regulation in more than 80 years, saying, “a law like that has not been overturned at least since Lochner, right?” Well, wrong. The 1905 case of Lochner v. New York dealt with a state statute and had nothing to do with the powers of Congress. The law professor should check his notes.
Another problem with trying to invoke precedent is that Obamacare defenders can’t keep their story straight on whether the constitutional authority for the health care takeover was found in the government’s taxing power, regulation of interstate commerce, a necessary and proper power, or something else. White House attorneys still can’t seem to agree, and the grounds kept shifting even during oral arguments before the nation's highest court. It’s never a good sign when the solicitor general elicits laughter in the courtroom.
University of Houston law professor David R. Dow suggested impeaching justices who vote against Obamacare. This is not a new idea - Mr. Dow is cribbing from the segregationists who erected billboards calling for the impeachment of Chief Justice Earl Warren after the court began striking down the Jim Crow laws. Only one justice has ever been impeached, Samuel Chase in 1805, and he was acquitted. Since then, it has been a tradition that impeachment would be used only against judges who committed malfeasance, not for having their own views of the Constitution. Even Franklin D. Roosevelt simply wanted to pack the court with handpicked justices who would support his policies, not be rid of the meddlesome clerks who have the nerve to interpret the law independent of the executive. Mr. Dow’s shortsighted proposal to politicize the high court would only exacerbate the deep divisions in the country and delegitimize the only branch of government that has a shred of moral authority left.
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 http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/apr/6/

KNIGHT: Obama's bullying pulpit

I don't know which was more embarrassing: Barack Obama trying to bully the Supreme Court - again - or The Washington Post trying to clean up after him.