Obama Administration complies with federal appeals court demand

Washington (CNN) — The Justice Department obeyed a federal appeals court’s unusual order Thursday in a legal and political spat over the health care law championed by President Barack Obama.

Administration lawyers met their deadline and filed a three-page, single-spaced letter — following the specific instructions of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which is hearing a challenge to the health care law.

The letter affirmed the government’s stance that federal courts indeed have the authority to decide the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act — and any other law Congress passes.

“The power of the courts to review the constitutionality of legislation is beyond dispute,” said the letter, signed by Attorney General Eric Holder.

It added that the Justice Department “has not in this litigation, nor in any other litigation of which I am aware, ever asked this or any other court to reconsider or limit long-established precedent concerning judicial review of the constitutionality of federal legislation.”

Referring to comments by Obama that set off the imbroglio, the letter concluded: “The President’s remarks were fully consistent with the principles described herein.”

A dispute involving the court and the executive branch has elevated the political stakes over whether the law will survive various legal challenges, including a pending a Supreme Court decision. The high court’s ruling, expected in June, would take precedence over any other courts hearing similar appeals.

The latest dispute surfaced Monday when the president said, “I’m confident that the Supreme Court will not take what would be an unprecedented extraordinary step of overturning a law that was passed by a strong majority of a democratically-elected Congress and I just remind conservative commentators that for years, what we’ve heard is, the biggest problem on the bench was judicial activism or a lack of judicial restraint, that an unelected group of people would somehow overturn a dually constituted and passed law.”

Some conservative critics interpreted those remarks as a challenge to judicial authority, suggesting Obama was putting political pressure on the high court, which is expected to issue its ruling on the constitutionality of the health care by June.