Wife: Ted would be pleased with healthcare

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WASHINGTON, July 1 (UPI) -- Vicki Kennedy said Sunday her late husband, U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy, would be pleased President Obama's healthcare overhaul was upheld by the Supreme Court.

Kennedy, who died in 2009, had national healthcare reform as his life's cause, Vicki Kennedy said in an interview on ABC's "This Week." He did not live to see Obama sign the healthcare legislation into law in March 2010, but Vicki said she was with Obama at the time.

"I think he felt very strongly in healthcare reform. He had studied this issue for more than 40 years. He believed in it," she said. "He believed in its constitutionality. He had looked at it in every way and I think he would have been pleased but not surprised."

After the Supreme Court ruling was made public Thursday, Vicki Kennedy said House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., called her to say, "Now Teddy can rest."