Constitutional Law Follies

And so it was on Monday that Barack Obama, anticipating a loss before the Supreme Court, added the third branch of government to the list of villains he will run against in his re-election campaign. (Daniel Henninger, WSJ, 4/4/2012)


On Monday, President Obama shocked even his fellow liberals when he claimed that it would be "an unprecedented, extraordinary step" for the Supreme Court to overturn "a law that was passed by a strong majority of a democratically elected Congress." (Which Obamacare wasn't.)

He added: "I'd just remind conservative commentators that for years what we've heard is the biggest problem on the bench was judicial activism or a lack of judicial restraint."

I guess now we know why Obama won't release his college and law school transcripts!

It was so embarrassing that Obama attempted a clarification on Tuesday, but only made things worse. He said: "We have not seen a court overturn a law that was passed by Congress on an economic issue, like health care," since the '30s.

Except in 1995. And then again in 2000. (Do we know for a fact that this guy went to Columbia and Harvard Law?)  (Ann Coulter, 4/4/2012)


“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,” he said on Monday. 


Because the vote by which the health care law was enacted was razor-thin and largely partisan, and because the court’s powers have been established since Marbury v. Madison in 1803, the president’s words were false on both counts, PolitiFact.com declared. 


Mr. Obama and his aides have tried to explain what he meant, but they have relied on arcane arguments that may fall beyond the grasp of ordinary voters who have not studied the distinctions drawn over the commerce clause and the Lochner judicial era that preceded the New Deal. (NYT, 4/5/2012)


We fully expected the Wall Street Journal and Ann Coulter to give us some gems as a result of Professor Obama's latest misadventures. Having the New York Times weigh in was akin to getting to celebrate your birthday twice.