President Barack Obama has taken a swipe at the reasoning Chief Justice John Roberts used in his controversial decision to uphold Obamacare.
Last June, the nation’s top jurist stunned his fellow conservative colleagues by voting to uphold Obama’s Affordable Care Act, siding with the court’s four moderate liberal members.
But he did so citing Congress’ power to impose taxes instead of the president’s claim that Obamacare was justifiable under the Commerce Clause, an enumerated power in the Constitution which regulates interstate commerce.
"It was interesting to see them, or Justice Roberts in particular, take the approach that this was constitutional under the taxing power," Obama told Rolling Stone magazine.
"The truth is that if you look at the precedents dating back to the 1930s, this was clearly constitutional under the Commerce Clause.
“I think Justice Roberts made a decision that allowed him to preserve the law but allowed him to keep in reserve the desire, maybe, to scale back Congress' power under the Commerce Clause in future cases."
The president added: “It's hard to dispute that healthcare is a national issue of massive importance. It takes up 17 or 18 percent of our entire economy; it touches on everybody's lives; it is a massive burden on businesses, on our federal budget and on families. It's practiced across state lines. So the notion that Congress could not take a comprehensive approach to that problem the way we have makes no sense.’’
Mitt Romney has vowed to dismantle the law, saying shortly after the Supreme Court ruling, “What the court did not do on its last day in session, I will do on my first day if elected president of the U.S. And that is I will act to repeal Obamacare."
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