Obama picks favorite SCOTUS decision of his tenure, sees downside to becoming a justice
President Barack Obama. Mykhaylo Palinchak / Shutterstock.com
The U.S. Supreme Court decision upholding Congress’ power to enact the health-care law isn’t President Obama’s favorite ruling by the court. Neither is the decision striking down the Defense of Marriage Act provision denying federal benefits to same-sex married couples.
Asked to name the best Supreme Court decision of his tenure, Obama picks more of a nondecision, the New Yorker reports.
“In some ways, the decision that was just handed down to not do anything about what states are doing on same-sex marriage may end up being as consequential—from my perspective, a positive sense—as anything that’s been done,” Obama told the New Yorker.
“Because I think it really signals that although the court was not quite ready—it didn’t have sufficient votes to follow Loving v. Virginia and go ahead and indicate an equal-protection right across the board—it was a consequential and powerful signal of the changes that have taken place in society and that the law is having to catch up.”
“Ultimately, I think the equal protection clause does guarantee same-sex marriage in all 50 states,” Obama said. “But, as you know, courts have always been strategic. There have been times where the stars were aligned and the court, like a thunderbolt, issues a ruling like Brown v. Board of Education, but that’s pretty rare. And, given the direction of society, for the court to have allowed the process to play out the way it has may make the shift less controversial and more lasting.”
On other issues, Obama:
• Declined to offer any advice on whether Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg should retire to allow him to name a replacement while still in office. “Life tenure means she gets to decide, not anybody else, when she chooses to go,” he said.
• Expressed reservations when asked if he would like to be a judge after his presidency, like William Howard Taft, who became chief justice. “When I got out of law school, I chose not to clerk,” Obama told the New Yorker. “Partly because I was an older student, but partly because I don’t think I have the temperament to sit in a chamber and write opinions.”
Obama went on to say that he loved the law intellectually and enjoyed teaching at a law school. “I miss the classroom and engaging with students. But I think being a justice is a little bit too monastic for me. Particularly after having spent six years and what will be eight years in this bubble, I think I need to get outside a little bit more.”
Hat tip to the Washington Post, which summarized the New Yorker story.
