Attorney General Eric Holder is pushing back against an attack from a federal judge in Texas, telling the judge that President Barack Obama’s recent comments about the Supreme Court’s review of the Affordable Care Act are “fully consistent” with longstanding legal principles.
Holder’s comments came Thursday in a memo ordered by 5th Circuit Judge Jerry E. Smith, who questioned whether Obama respects the courts’ power to strike federal laws it finds unconstitutional.
[Key sentence in the memo: Where a plaintiff properly invokes the jurisdiction of a court and presents a justiciable challenge, there is no dispute that courts properly review the constitutionality of Acts of Congress.]