WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama says he remains confident that the Supreme Court will uphold his health care reform law, warning Monday that overturning it would be an “unprecedented, extraordinary step.”
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama says he remains confident that the Supreme Court will uphold his health care reform law, warning Monday that overturning it would be an “unprecedented, extraordinary step.”
In his first public comments on the matter since the court heard arguments over the constitutionality of the law last week, Obama said that experts across the ideological spectrum, including conservative appellate court judges, shared his view that precedent supported the measure.
Beyond a legal justification for his administration’s signature accomplishment, Obama also detailed the benefits of the law in arguing that there was a “human element” at play.
“This is not an abstract argument. People’s lives are affected by the lack of availability of health care, the inaffordability of health care, their inability to get health care because of pre-existing conditions,” Obama said at a news conference in the Rose Garden, along with the leaders of Canada and Mexico.
“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.
Reflecting the political stakes, Obama also addressed “conservative commentators” that he said have long argued against “judicial activism,” and bemoaned “an unelected group of people would somehow overturn a duly constituted and passed law.”
“Well, this is a good example, and I’m pretty confident this court will recognize that and not take that step,” he said.