Politics

Supremes Smack Down Obama Administration 9-0 For 13th TIME SINCE 2012

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The nine members of the Supreme Court have now unanimously smacked down the position taken by the administration of President Barack Obama over a dozen times since January 2012.

The number of total and humiliating defeats rose to 13 this particularly unlucky week after three cases went against the executive branch by a tally of 9-0, notes John Fund, writing at National Review.

In one case, NLRB v. Noel Canning, the Court unanimously rebuked President Obama for his three unconstitutional attempts to declare the U.S. Senate in recess when, in fact, the Senate was not in recess.

In a second case, McCullen v. Coakley, the justices unanimously threw out a Massachusetts law that outlawed protests within 35 feet of any abortion clinic. The federal government was not directly involved in this case but the U.S. Deputy Solicitor General did file an amicus brief in favor of the free speech ban.

The solicitor general filed another losing amicus brief in another 9-0 case decided this week as well. In Riley v. California, the court unanimously held that the Fourth Amendment requires police to obtain a warrant to search cell phones belonging to private citizens.

In a similar Fourth Amendment case decided in 2012, U.S. v. Jones, the Obama Justice Department again lost 9-0 when it tried to argue that the federal government does not need a warrant to affix GPS tracking devices to anyone’s car, at any time, for basically any reason.

In addition to an embarrassingly bad run since 2012, the Obama administration’s overall batting average in the Supreme Court is also terrible compared to the overall winning percentage of other presidents.

Historically, at least five Supreme Court justices side with the federal government about 70 percent of the time, according to The Washington Times.

“Despite some notable victories, the Obama administration has had an unusually poor batting average at the high court,” UCLA constitutional law professor Adam Winkler told the Times.

During the last three presidential terms (so including George W. Bush’s second term), the federal government has actually been losing more than it has been winning.

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