Lankford Opposes President’s Supreme Court Pressure for Decision

Representative James Lankford issued the following statement after President Obama warned against “judicial activism” in the impending Supreme Court decision on the national healthcare law.

“Yesterday, President Obama took the national stage to apply political pressure on the Supreme Court to encourage them to fall into line with his understanding of the Constitution and not overturn his health insurance law,” said Representative Lankford.  “The President seems to have forgotten that the Legislative and Judicial branches are co-equal branches of government.  The Supreme Court does not work for the President; they work for the American people and have their own mandate to uphold the Constitution.  The President seems to promote the idea that if a legislature passes a bill and the President signs it, the Supreme Court should not evaluate the law’s constitutionality.  Every citizen has the right to disagree with the Supreme Court, but for the President to proactively undercut the integrity of the justices is appalling.

“The President worked to protect his signature legislation by adding to the court one of the key proponents of the law, Justice Kagan.  Now, the President has applied public pressure to further influence the Justices.  I believe our nation’s highest court has the responsibility to honor the intent of the Constitution by adjudicating free from personal bias and without pressure from any President on what is likely the most significant decision of the early 21^st century,” continued Representative Lankford.  

“If judicial activism is truly the product of a politically charged court, the President could alleviate some of the political pressure by allowing them to do their job free of pre-emptive criticism,” concluded Representative Lankford.