Old prof flunks Bam

Wrong on poke at Supremes

By S.A. MILLER, Post Correspondent
Last Updated: 4:40 AM, April 5, 2012
Posted: 1:41 AM, April 5, 2012

WASHINGTON — President Obama’s former law-school professor said yesterday the president “obviously misspoke” when he challenged the authority of the US Supreme Court to overturn his historic health-care law.

“He didn’t say what he meant. . . and having said that, in order to avoid misleading anyone, he had to clarify it,” Harvard Professor Laurence Tribe told The Wall Street Journal.

Tribe, who called Obama one of his best students, tried to downplay the president’s remarks by insisting everyone already knows he wants the law to survive.

“I don’t think anything was gained by his making these comments and I don’t think any harm was done, except by public confusion,” Tribe said.

Obama’s remarks Monday — when he proclaimed that “unelected” judges should not “take an unprecedented, extraordinary step of overturning a law that was passed by a strong majority of a democatically elected Congress” — set off a firestorm of criticism that he was attempting to intimidate the high court.

Attorney General Eric Holder tried to ease the backlash against his boss.

“What the president said a couple days ago was appropriate,” insisted Holder, sticking up for Obama’s warning that the court should exercise “restraint” and not strike down the law.

“The courts are also fairly deferential when it comes to overturning statutes that the duly elected representatives of the people in Congress pass,” Holder said at a Chicago press conference.

Obama’s stern comments have prompted 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Jerry Smith — who is hearing a separate challenge to ObamaCare — to order that the Justice Department submit a letter affirming the federal court’s authority to strike down unconstitutional laws.

Holder promised he would comply with Smith’s assignment to write a three-page, single-spaced letter attesting to the power of the judiciary.

Holder made every effort yesterday to appease angry judges and alleviate tensions between the executive and judicial branches.

“Courts have the final say in the constitutionality of statutes,” he admitted.

He also echoed Obama when he proclaimed his confidence that the Supreme Court would ultimately uphold the health-care law, officially titled the Affordable Care Act.

The justices are expected to rule by June whether the mandate that all Americans buy health insurance is an unconstitutional overreach by the government.

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, who joined Holder in Chicago, said she was forging ahead to implement ObamaCare even as the courts weigh its fate.