Because this same line of attack went over so well when Obama did it?
Via Mediaite:
White House Press Secretary Jay Carney and CBS’ White House Correspondent Norah O’Donnell got into a heated exchange over just how precedented a ruling by the Supreme Court overturning all or part of the Affordable Care Act would be.
O’Donnell asked Carney whether President Obama regretted using the word “unprecedented” on Monday, since it seemed that the President was walking back his comments a ruling by the Supreme Court finding portions of the Affordable Care Act unconstitutional had no precedent.
“Not at all,” said Carney, unhesitatingly. “Only because a handful of people didn’t seem to get what he was referring to — of course, he was referring to the fact that it would be unprecedented in the modern era of the Supreme Court, since the New Deal-era, for the Supreme Court to overturn legislation passed by Congress designed to regulate and deal with a matter of national economic importance like our health care system.”
Carney continued to explain that the President “did not suggest — did not mean and did not suggest — it would be unprecedented for the Court to rule that a law would be unconstitutional. That’s what the Supreme Court is there to do. But it has under the Commerce Clause deferred to the Congress on matters of national economic importance.”