On April 2, 2012, President Barack Obama openly attacked the nation's highest court and unilaterally declared that if the Justices find his "ObamaCare" laws to be unconstitutional, such a holding by the Court would be "unprecedented." See Article in Business Week. For the nation's highest court to overturn a law as unconstitutional would, of course, not be "unprecedented." Rather, this basic tenet of our federal government's system of "Checks and Balances" has existed since at least 1803 whereby the Supreme Court has asserted the power to strike down laws which it finds to be unconstitutional.
Knowing that President Obama holds our highest Executive office, that he has a Law Degree, and that he once taught Constitutional Law as a professor; I found Mr. Obama's public statements and his criticism of the Court to be not only disturbing, but even a little scary given the weight that his words carry when proclaimed to our nation.
I decided to quickly research this heady legal issue and very quickly found a website called "Congress For Kids" on the Internet. I was happy to find the following succinct statement explaining the policy of "Checks and Balances" to our nation's school children and, hopefully, also to our President:
"By creating three branches of government, the delegates built a "check and balance" system into the Constitution. This system was built so that no one branch of our government could become too powerful. Each branch is restrained by the other two in several ways. For example, the president may veto a law passed by Congress. Congress can override that veto with a vote of two-thirds of both houses. Another example is that the Supreme Court may check Congress by declaring a law unconstitutional. The power is balanced by the fact that members of the Supreme Court are appointed by the president. Those appointments have to be approved by Congress." See Congress For Kids
U.S. Circuit Judge Jerry Smith was equally troubled (or perhaps much more troubled) by President Obama's incorrect statements. Justice Smith has ordered the United States Justice Department to submit a written statement to the the Court by Noon on April 5, 2012:
"The department must submit a written statement of “no less than three pages, single spaced,” to the New Orleans-based appeals court by noon on April 5, according to a court filing yesterday.
The president’s statement “has troubled a number of people who have read it as somehow a challenge to the federal courts or to their authority to the appropriateness of the concept of judicial review,’’ Smith said. “So I want to be sure that you’re telling us the attorney general and the Department of Justice do recognize the authority of the federal courts through unelected judges to strike acts of Congress or portions thereof in appropriate cases.’’
In my efforts to preserve tax payer funds and expedite the legal research by the Department of Justice, I simply offer them the website "Congrees For Kids" for their review. I would also change Justice Smith's Order in one small regard, by demanding that a fourth page be filed with the Court in which President Obama apologizes in advance to our nation's school children who may believe Obama's statements when asked on their Civics test in school to explain our system of Checks and Balances. By answering with his guidance, they would get that answer wrong.
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