It feels like political role reversal: A Democratic president complains about activist judges while the Republican contender sits piously by and advocates letting the Supreme Court do its work. On Monday, Barack Obama told the Supreme Court to support his Affordable Care Act, reminding conservatives that "for years, what we have 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 duly constituted and passed law." That line pleased Mitt Romney immensely, the candidate told Fox News's Greta Van Susteren on Monday night: "Isn't this wonderful to finally have a liberal talking about judicial activism? I think we can come together on this," he said. "What the president's complaining about, however, is that the Supreme Court might actually apply the Constitution to the bill that he passed!" If we didn't know better, we'd think Romney was being sarcastic, which would indicate he's actually exercising that sense of humor he promised to "unzip."

Want to add to this story? Let us know in comments or send an email to the author at amartin at theatlantic dot com. You can share ideas for stories on the Open Wire.
Adam Martin