Federal appeals court fires back at Barack Obama for his comments on the Supreme Court
With the chance being quite likely that the Supreme Court will rule parts of Obamacare unconstitutional, and in at attempt to further divide Americans, yesterday Barack Obama stated that if the Supreme Court struck any or all of the healthcare reform law it would represent an “unprecedented” and “extraordinary” overturning of a law which was passed by the Congress.
Apparently Barack Obama feels that if a law is passed by the Congress that it must be deemed constitutional. This shows a fundamental lack of knowledge of the role of the Supreme Court, and honestly, it is an outright lie; just because the Congress passes a law it doesn’t mean said law is constitutional. The law might have been passed through the proper constitutional process, but that doesn’t necessarily mean the law itself is constitutional. If Barack Obama was correct there would be no need for the Supreme Court in the first place because the Congress could pass whatever the hell it wanted to and it would go unquestioned.
Today the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals took Barack Obama to task for his statements and sent him a letter asking him if he really felt as if he was above the courts, giving the Department of Injustice three days to answer. Barack Obama is now backtracking from his statement:
The point I was making is that the Supreme Court is the final say on our Constitution and our laws, and all of us have to respect it, but it’s precisely because of that extraordinary power that the Court has traditionally exercised significant restraint and deference to our duly elected legislature, our Congress. And so the burden is on those who would overturn a law like this,” Mr. Obama said.
Now, as I said, I expect the Supreme Court actually to recognize that and to abide by well-established precedence out there
With all due respect to Mr. Obama, he said nothing that could be construed to mean what his clarification says; it is obvious that his handlers got to him and told him to dial in his divisive rhetoric on this issue. He said what he said and he meant what he said because he does not feel as if he should ever be questioned, and in fact he had never been questioned before he became president so he is not used to it and he does not know how to deal with the fact that he isn’t always going to be mindlessly followed so he struck out at those who had the audacity to challenge him. And now the courts are striking back at him, he cannot be happy with this turn of events for it strikes right at the heart of his narcissism.
America's Watchtower 
Normally I have little respect for the 5th Circuit in New Orleans for personal reasons I won’t go into here. But today they did take a firm stand in support of Judicial Review. For being a constitutional law professor, Obama is either showing his igorance or else just playing to his base. I suspect its the latter, as even high school students should know about the role of the federal courts in America. At any rate, Barack stepped in a big pile of crap and is trying to walk back some of his comments—however, not trying to0 hard. It will be interesting to read the DOJ’s responce to the 5th Circuit.
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I also think he is playing to his base and this is part of his attempt to further divide Americans in the hope it helps him get reelected. Obama did step in it and it will be interesting to see how this one plays out.
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“How dare the courts question me!” You see, he is a boy, trying to play ina big man’s world. What a complete idiot to make such a ridiculous statement. I hope the court now strikes the whole fucking thing down just to shop baby-face moron just what the real power in this counry is, and it ain’t him.
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He needs to learn what his role is and stop acting like a spoiled brat when he doesn’t get his way. Perhaps this will teach him a lesson, but I doubt it.
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Let’s hope Kennedy wasn’t intimidated. I won’t relax until the final decision comes down.
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I don’t think the justices will be intimidated, but like you, I won’t rest easy until the verdict is in.
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I doubt they can be intimidated. I do think that he felt safe enough to say what he did and he got smacked down. He miscalculated how alot of people are starting to feel and he just happened to rub someone in a position of power the wrong way. I think in the end he will come out and say that he was misunderstood. We are seeing some of his frustration showing, I don’t think things are going as smoothly as planned. He doesn’t play well under pressure, does he?
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He thought that this would galvinize the base and didn’t expect the backlash he is now facing. He just can’t wrap his mind around the idea that people don’t like Obamacare and he isn’t dealing with it too well.
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If he wins this showdown it’s a TKO for the country. With all the chickenshit in the wind it’s anyone’sa guess how this will finish.
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Peter, people react differently under pressure. I guess we will see what our SC Justices are made of, won’t we?
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Obama is doing his best to divide the country along racial, gender, and class lines and it is very likely this could get violent before it is over, and we will have to look no further than the White House to see who is responsible.
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And they will say, “it wasn’t me”, as usual.
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Yep, he does love to spread the blame around and he never takes responsibility for his actions.
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I don’t normally make predictions, but I will venture one in this case. If the Supreme Court does strike down the health care law, there will be trouble in paradise. By that, I mean that there may well be riots in the streets and President Obama will do nothing but urge them on. He is setting the stage for that, in my opinion.
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Are you thinking martial law then? I would say that will be the outcome for him at that point and to stop the election. After all isn’t that what everyone says will never happen? His executive orders are sure falling into play, aren’t they?
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I don’t know if he will attempt martial law, or if he will let the Occupy thugs rule the streets. Whatever he does, I simply do not trust him. Not in the least.
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That is a theory that has been out there, I don’t know if it will get to that point or not, but if it gets bad enough anything is possible. I do not trust him either.
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I happen to agree Larry, all these people who think they are entitled to something for nothing will take to the streets and it could get violent before it is over.
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Still wish you had a “chat” area, would be easier to follow the postings…sometimes I miss some I would like to comment on.
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Unfortunately WordPress doesn’t offer it or else I would put it up to see how it went.
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This is clearly a man who has very little respect for our constitution, our traditions, the separate but equal powers of each branch of government, and anything else that is pro America. He is at war with our system and doing everything he can to fundamentally transform America. I was happy to see the 5th call him out on his comments from yesterday. This needs to happen more because he is so full of himself it will completely rattle him and he will come unhinged. The more Obama comes unhinged the more he reveals who he really is.
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It is amazing that there are those that still don’t see this. Or, they just will not admit it. He told us upfront that he would fundamentally change America, those that paid no attention to that will also have to face the consequences. He does seems to be making alot of mistakes lately. Today on his press conference, where before he could always read the teleprompter, he had alot of trouble concentrating on what it said. I imagine someone else wrote what he should say and apparently he did not go over it before hand. Where once he was the smooth talker, he struggled today. This was on top of all the “uh’s and um’s” and just silent areas. Mentally he was not there.
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Nobody bother to ask him what fundamental change meant and now we are finding out the hard way. He probably wasn’t there mentally because he really doesn’t believe what he was saying, and he believes he said nothing wrong in the first place.
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Obama seems to think that his branch of the government is above the other two, he doesn’t believe they are equal branches and it is about time he was called on it. It does appear as if he is unraveling just a little bit as people challenge him.
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He is apparently setting off the wrong people. I doubt it is a good idea to upset judges. Yes, he thinks he is The One and above all else. He has had “his people” that cover for him when he makes mistakes and to do damage control in general, but I think there are some things that will not be that easy to deal with. It’s like you don’t want to upset officers of the law, well, I put the judges in the same catagory. He steped in it this time as someone esle mentioned earlier. Let’s see the spin they come up with, because Tuesdays back pedaling just didn’t smooth things over. All the while Michelle is telling kids to tell their grandparents WHO to vote for. Of course it is for the common good of the nation that she speaks, ha!
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I think this was a political miscalculation on his part; he thought this would play well with his base but he underestimated the backlash.
Coupling this with his statements on the SCOTUS in his SOTU speech and I wouldn’t be surprised if the justices held a grudge. Technically they are supposed to be impartial and judge the cases based on the constitution alone, but they are also human and I wouldn’t be surprised if Obama’s words are used against him. Of course we will never know if this was a factor in the decision.
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Who was it who said “John Marshall has made his decision, now let him enforce it!”
There’s always been a fundamental power struggle among the three branches of our government. This is nothing new.
TGY
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BTW, Steve, you make an excellent point about the justices being only human – almost as if the President (no dummy himself) is seeing the writing on the wall and is throwing down the gauntlet, daring them to do what he believes they actually will do.
SCOTUS took an initial vote on the case Thursday or Friday. There’ll be a lot of politicking amongg the 9 – the final decision hasn’t yet been reached – but Mr. Boortz believes that someone leaked the President the results of that preliminary vote, leading to Mr. Obama’s speech.
The courts are aware of politics and current events – that’s why Earl Warren worked so hard for unanimity in Brown v Board of Ed, to make it clear that there was no division about the issue of civil rights in the eyes of the Court – that the forces of bigotry had no friend on the Court.
Take good care,
TGY
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That would be Andrew Jackson of course, and you are right about this battle between the executive and the courts being nothing new, FDR would be a perfect example. I have been wondering what Obama would do if the court struck this down, would he pull an Andrew Jackson? I am not sure.
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I think Obama may have been leaked the result as well, but I am not sure if his actions means he feels emboldened because the court will uphold the law, or if he is going on the offensive because it will be struck down.
There is also a rumor that if the court is going to rule 5-4 to uphold the law that Roberts will change his vote to make it seem less like a political vote.
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In a perfect world Obama would be jailed for sedition….WM
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I have seen the real possibility of Marshall Law coming for a long time. Too many of the things he does just plain point to it. If he wants a second Civil War, he couldn’t do a better job to make it happen.
His comments the other day weren’t for his base so much as they were for the stupid people of the country that want everything for free, oh, never mind, that IS his base, isn’t it.
I am SO GLAD to see judges standing up to the asshole in chief, and sure hope SCOTUS does the same. I believe they will. Where does he think his power stops anyway. We already know how he continually circumvents Congress, now it’s the Supreme Courts turn? That jerk really does think he is the second coming of Christ, doesn’t he?!
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Joe, his power will go as far as he is allowed to go. I have yet to see the right actually do more than smack his hand. This is not what our Congress is supposed to do. If you have no boundaries, why not go for the gold? William, we are apparently NOT in a perfect world, are we?
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Yes, as long as the Congres sits back and take it he will continue to push the boundaries.
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He is inciting people to rise up based on gender, race, and class and it has the potential to get violent. is he doing this just to win reelection or is there more to it than that?
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Okay, technically speaking, no letter was sent to the President; a judge took a lawyer to task for something the President said in a public speech. From my perspective, the judgereally overstepped the boundaries.I don’t recall any judges calling previous presidents to account for their public remarks, no matter how stupid they may have been.
The President was, of course, wrong to characterize overturning of PPACA as “unprecedented.” It wasn’t the first time he said something in public that wasn’t true, and he’s not the first President in history to do so.
The judge is grandstanding, plain and simple. I note that the other judges on the bench (wisely) kept their mouths shut. And if the ruling in the case before the 5th Circuit goes against the government, expect that judge’s impartiality to be challenged and a move made to have him removed from the case.
Take good care and may God bless us all!
TGY
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So how does the executive branch formally ask the judicial if reading legislation before it for review is optional, as Justice Scalia clearly implied when he asked “Do you expect me to read this entire 2700-page bill?”
Let’s get this straight – the right is upset that many members of Congress didn’t personally read PPACA in its final form, never mind the fact that they debated its various components for a year, generally leaving it to stafff to craft the actual language and then voting on that language once formulated.
Justice Scalia, one of the darlings of the right in this country and one of those who will decide the bill’s fate, certainly implied last week that he had no intention of reading PPACA: “Do you expect me to read this entire 2700-page bill?”
What’s up with that? If you believe it was wrong for members of Congress not to have read the bill as passed, you cannot support Justice Scalia’s position unless you believe that two wrongs make a right. This takes on added urgency in light of the fact that the Justice, when discussing severability, discussed the Cornhusker amendment to PPACA as if it were a component of the bill, which it certainly isn’t. If the man doesn’t know what is and isn’t in the bill, and doesn’t intend to read it, doesn’t that mean he’s prejudged the case?
Take good care and may God bless us all!
TGY
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TGY, I believe there is alot of frustration within both parties. That is why alot of mistakes are made. I wish that there were more mature people making good decisions for US instead of playing the “one up them” game. It seems that we are the ones in the end that will be having to deal with the outcome for years to come and not Congress. If they were held to the same standards that we are, I doubt there would be this going on. On the bright side, it is beautiful here in Central Illinois and the birds are singing.
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These people are not making decisions based on what is best for us or the future of the country, they are doing what they feel helps them the most politically.
It is a beautiful day here in New Hampshire as well, I really should be outside cleaning the yard and not sitting here behind the keyboard.
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TGY, I actually agree with everything you just wrote and I did find it disturbing that Scalia would imply he had no intention of reading the bill–if I am not mistaken didn’t he actually make a joke about it as well? This is not something that can be defended and in fact I found it to be bothersome.
We have the Congress passing a law without knowing what is in it and now we have a SC justice admitting he isn’t going to read it either. Our system has been corrupted and at this point I am not sure there is anything we can do about it, but we are the ones who have to live with the results.
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I think there is that fact that the complacency is taking over with our government. It is totally amazing that not only the Congress passes a bill they did not read, but that the supremes would pass one way or another whether it is constitutional. Someone is NOT doing their job and there is enough “guilty” to pass around on both parties. The bad thing is that we are PAYING them to do this, so does this make us stupid? I ask you!!!!!
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In a way we are the stupid ones because we keep elected these people on promises which we know they aren’t going to keep. The saying goes; you get the government you deserve, and I can’t help but feel we deserve what is happening to this country.
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That’s why I consider myself a regular on your blog after having turned my back on so many others. Life in the US is more than cheerleading for one'[s own “side.”
Many legislators are lawyers. In law school, they generally didn’t read the full text of every case they studied – they formed study groups and assigned each member particular cases for a thorough review, which would be summarized and presented to the group. So if you had ten cases to study and a study group of five, each student would thoroughly examine 2 cases, summarize them, and give the group a report. Delegation.
I think the same thing happens in the Congress today when laws are created. The laws generally aren’t written by the members, but their staffs, who are trained lawyers themselves. And I think that they’re very familiar with the details of the portions they themselves worked on, and report a summary to their colleagues.
Steve, Easter Sunday dawned here in Georgia bright and clear. We will spend some hours puttering in the garden (I’m trying to make raised beds) and then a light meal of ham, steamed vegetables, ham, and scalloped potatoes. And during the week, I intend to have plenty of egg salad without strange blue and red streaks of dye . . . now that the kids aren’t at home fulltime, we can enjoy some quiet grownup pleasures.
Take good care and may God bless us all!
TGY
joined study groups in law school. In these groups, they’d divide up the respo
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Glad you are here as well, TGY! Might not always agree with you, but you have changed my way of thinking on alot of things. That is not an easy thing to do when you are raised a certain way. Enjoy your day and don’t overdo the food. We are headed out to the garden to plan our attack on it for this year. A little more of some things and less of others (cucumbers), ha! We like to move things around each year and we know what we used most for my canning last year, so that will be what we are focusing on. Politics will have to wait til tomorrow, unless a major happening occurs.
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Thanks TGY and I always enjoy your comments even though we usually disagree because they are are always well thought out and grounded in facts. I actually intended to do a post on Scalia’s comment but it slipped through the cracks. (Conveniently you might think, but it was an honest oversight.)
It was a nice day here as well, although a little chilly. It sounds like you had a nice, relaxing, quiet day planned out and I hope you and your wife had a wonderful Easter.
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Lou, I agree with what you said about TGY, he is a great commenter here even though we don’t agree on most issues. He brings another perspective to the blog and always makes me think.
I hope you had a wonderful Easter and wish you well in your gardening this year.
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