Posted on 03/28/2012 5:16:25 PM PDT by Libloather
White House has no contingency plans if health law is tossed
By Amie Parnes - 03/28/12 03:17 PM ET
The White House has no contingency plans in place in the event the Supreme Court rules the healthcare law is unconstitutional.
White House officials said Wednesday they remain “confident” that the healthcare reform law is constitutional and is implementing all the provisions of the law.
If the law is thrown out, there's “no contingency plan in place,” principal deputy press secretary Josh Earnest said at Wednesday’s press briefing with reporters. “We're focused on maximizing the benefits of this law.”
President Obama was in South Korea for the first two days of the High Court’s arguments. Earnest said Obama has followed the case through news reports but he’s unsure if Obama has listened to the audio from the Supreme Court.
Earnest said the healthcare law “was originally a Republican idea” and was backed by “the former governor of Massachusetts.”
Earnest also said the law stemmed from a “bipartisan plan and it's one that we believe is constitutional.”
During the arguments on Tuesday, a majority of the justices appeared to be skeptical that the health law’s insurance mandate met constitutional muster. But on Wednesday, the court seemed more divided on the question of whether the entire law would need to be thrown out if the court ruled the mandate was unconstitutional.
Legal experts have warned that while oral arguments can be a good indication of where the court is headed, it is far from certain how the justices will rule.
In his comments, Earnest cautioned that someone who reads into the tough questioning by the Supreme Court justices and the tenor of the case “is not a very good student of the Supreme Court.”
“I would caution against anyone to try and make predictions,” Earnest said. “That's a risky path to go down if you're placing bets.”
Asked about James Carville's comments that a ruling against the mandate would be a good thing for Democrats, Earnest said “Mr. Carville has the freedom to make those kinds of political assessments” but added that he wasn't in a position to do the same from the White House podium.
Despite the solicitor general’s shaky performance before the court, Earnest called Donald Verrilli Jr., the government’s lawyer in the case, a “very skilled advocate” and “one of the brightest legal minds in Washington, D.C.”
Verrilli “delivered a solid performance before the Supreme Court. That's a fact. We feel good about his performance,” he said.
ohhhhh.....I get it! Now it’s a republican idea!
that’s the ticket!
He’ll run on “I tried, but the right stopped me from giving you more free stuff before I even started. Just let me find my special executive order pen and see what I can gen up on the fly.
But don’t hold your breath waiting for me or my family/friends, cronies, congress, our staffs, my czars, my unions, my muzzies etc. to participate in all of this wonderful free stuff because it really is too good to be true.”
” - - - Verrilli laid an egg defending a lemon. “
Love it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Media wouldn’t again go all wild-a$$ racial without facts after the Duke lacrosse fiasco, would they? That would make them look like idiots.
(1) the trillions dollar stimulus---which failed.
(2) the healthcare mandate---which could soon be kaputski or partially disemboweled.
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Obama revealad his hidden agenda in Russia on the open mic; He didnt say "after the election, or “after the next election.” He said: “This is my last election" ....... reassuring the Ruskis that he'll then have "more flexibility after the election....”
Clearly his certainty WRT staying in offce is not based on his approval ratings or massive opposition to his cockamamie polices----mandated healthcare, trilllion dollar stimulus, using aborted babies' brains in lab experiments, giving himself massive power over Americans, co-opting religious beliefs, high gas prices......to name a few.
No. Ohaha's certainty stems from his knowledge that he will stay in office---not by the will of the people---but by using unprecedented vote fraud.
It wasn’t mine to steal.
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