Last week, President Obama clumsily announced that it would be “unprecedented” for the Supreme Court to strike down “a law that was passed by a strong majority of a democratically elected Congress.” This week, his words are already having an effect in the courts—but not the effect he hoped for. Yesterday, in another case challenging Obamacare, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ordered Justice Department lawyers for a briefing on whether the Justice Department actually believes what the president said. 

We can expect the Justice Department lawyers, with the help of the White House counsel, to walk back the president’s statement in a hurry. In fact, President Obama is already walking it back himself, as Steve Hayes noted last night.