The President should respect the Supreme Court, not bully it, says Rep. Lamar Smith. Obama wrong to bully SCOTUS

President Barack Obama’s recent comments about the Supreme Court are more than disappointing — they’re disturbing.

Talking about the health care law, the president said last week that it would be an “unprecedented, extraordinary step” for “an unelected group of people [to] somehow overturn a duly constituted and passed law.” He tried to correct this statement the next day, saying he was referring to laws regarding “economic” issues, but still refused to retract his previous statements.


Though a former constitutional law professor, the president seems to have forgotten that the Supreme Court is a co-equal branch of government. It is the court’s job to review our laws, to ensure they don’t exceed Congress’s limited authority or violate Americans’ constitutional rights.

It is not unprecedented for the court to declare a law unconstitutional — the justices do it on a fairly regular basis. Since the 1980s, the court has averaged about two decisions a year striking down a federal law. The justices have been particularly vigilant about preventing Congress from using its power over interstate commerce to regulate activities that are not interstate or commercial.

For example, in U.S. v. Morrison (2000), the court struck down a federal law that let victims of sexual assault sue their attackers in federal court. The reasoning was that the law bore only an indirect relationship to interstate commerce.

The court expressed concern that if Congress could define committing an assault as “interstate commerce,” then Congress could define virtually anything as interstate commerce — and have unlimited authority over the lives of American people. As Chief Justice William Rehnquist wrote in the majority opinion, if allowed to stand, the law would “completely obliterate the Constitution’s distinction between national and local authority.”

If suing a sex offender is not “interstate commerce,” then neither is the decision to not purchase health insurance — despite what the president thinks about the health care law.

Another problem with the president’s comments is that he ignores what is unprecedented about this case: the individual mandate. Never before in U.S. history has the federal government forced the American people to purchase a product or service.

The Commerce Clause of the Constitution gives Congress the authority to regulate economic activity, which includes everything from managing a restaurant to running a Fortune 500 company. But there is a difference between regulating economic activity that is continuing and forcing Americans to engage in an activity against their will — in this case, purchasing health insurance. Under the Obama administration’s interpretation of the Commerce Clause, Congress could force Americans to buy any good or service.

If, for example, the housing sector were struggling, Congress could force renters to purchase a home. Or if falling citrus prices drove farmers into bankruptcy, Congress could force consumers to purchase oranges.

There is no end to the number of commercial transactions Americans could be forced into if the Commerce Clause were as broad as the Obama administration argues.

Perhaps most disturbing, the president’s comments reveal a fundamental lack of respect for the judicial branch. Our Founders established three branches of government to ensure a balance of power. This system of co-equal branches has been key to our nation’s success. For more than 230 years, it’s worked to prevent any single branch of government from amassing too much power over the American people.

The president’s comments were so concerning that the Fifth Circuit asked the Justice Department to file a letter clarifying the Obama administration’s position on the role of the judiciary. The department rightly admitted that it is beyond dispute that the judicial branch is not expected to blindly support the president’s policies, but rather to review the constitutionality of the laws and policies enacted by Congress and the executive branch.

It’s good to see that at least someone in the Obama administration understands the importance of the courts in our democracy.

The Supreme Court is not the only one to bear the brunt of Obama’s ridicule. Congress has seen its fair share as well.

Time and again, legitimate congressional inquiries on issues like Fast & Furious have been swatted away like flies at a picnic. And when the president can’t get his way with the legislative branch, he simply skips the congressional process. That is what happened when the administration made several “recess” appointments when the Senate was not in recess.

The Supreme Court’s ruling in the challenge to “Obamacare” will be a landmark decision for future Congresses and presidents. It is my hope — and the hope of millions of Americans — that the court will uphold the limits on the federal government’s role in our daily lives and declare all or part of the health care law unconstitutional.

The president should be careful not to bully the Supreme Court to rule in favor of his law. Instead, he should show respect for the system of government our Founders established — and the balance of power critical to the success of our democracy.

Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas) is the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee.