The Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act with a renaming of the mandate clearly identifying it as a tax. Mitt Romney quickly responded saying he would take steps to repeal Obamacare on Day 1.
With the recent use of Executive Order by President Obama to get around current immigration laws,will Mitt Romney use the same approach if he gets into office?
Hopefully not. Hopefully his only Executive Order on day one will be to repeal President Obama's immigration executive order. Executive Order use while providing a wide range of authority for a President under his executive powers is typically not best used in the way President Obama used it regarding illegal aliens because it leaves the President open to justifiable claims of overreaching. Even if Mr. Romney used executive order he could not repeal the entire law but would only be able to chip away at the law as President Obama has with his executive order regarding immigration law.
While challenges can be made against executive orders, typically they are not challenged and are left to be repealed by subsequent Presidents because of vague standards of standing and the legitimate authority of the President.
Obamacare was lawfully passed and today approved in terms of its constitutionality. While on Day one Mitt Romney can begin using his executive powers (if he wins) to begin unraveling the law it would make little sense to assert himself in this way on day one indicating that he too might consider his own views as more important than pursuing the legislative process of amending or repealing Obamacare.
Most of us don't know what Obamacare is going to look like when all its provision are implemented. Few people argued that the whole law should go while most argue that some portion should go.
Even Mitt Romney showed an indication that providing health insurance options for those with pre-existing conditions was a legitimate aim of healthcare reform.
Mitt Romney should capitalize on recent events to confirm his commitment to the legislative process rather than threaten actions on Day One that remind voters of President Obama's recent Executive Order which in my opinion undercut the President's credibility as a leader putting his own desires ahead of current law.
