Krauthammer: Obama Commenting on Undecided ACA Case Is Indecent

President Barack Obama committed "constitutional indecency" when he criticized the Supreme Court for taking up a case challenging Obamacare subsidies, said conservative commentator Charles Krauthammer.

"This should be an easy case. Frankly, it probably shouldn't have even been taken up," Obama told reporters at the G7 Summit in Germany on Monday. "It's not something that should be done based on a twisted interpretation of four words and a couple-thousand-page piece of legislation."

Obama further said he is optimistic the Supreme Court will "play it straight when it comes to interpretation."

A court ruling is expected this month, and if it goes against the president's wishes of subsidies for people in states that didn't set up exchanges, it would strike a blow to the law.

Krauthammer, appearing as a panelist Monday on Fox News Channel's "Special Report," said Obama "stepped over the bounds" when he criticized the Citizens United ruling he didn't like, but at least in that case he waited until after the ruling was announced to condemn it.

"But here, for the president to speak out and … impugn the motives of any justice who rules against him by saying in advance it will be a twisted interpretation … it's a pattern in which he steps over the boundaries of what the executive ought to do."

Obama's comments are not illegal, but show no respect for the Constitution, Krauthammer said.

"He did not swear an oath to provide subsidies for healthcare. He swore an oath to defend, essentially to respect the Constitution," he said.

Texas Republican Rep. Jeb Hensarling said it was "mind-boggling to me he used to teach law."

Obama appears to want a "unilateral Obamacare do-over," Hensarling said Monday on Fox News Channel's "Your World with Neil Cavuto."

The statute is clear that one must be part of a state exchange to receive a subsidy, he said, "and now the president saying well, we really didn't mean that, and so this is what we really meant. Well, unfortunately the English language gets in the way, and, again, this is the president eroding the rule of law. If I was on the Supreme Court I would be offended."

Related Stories:

• CNN/ORC Poll: Americans Don't Trust Supreme Court on Obamacare, Same-Sex Marriage
• Report: High Court Ruling Against ACA Could Affect 6.4M Americans