Suing Obama

Richard Nixon was accused of attempting to exercise the powers of an “imperial Presidency.”  This clearly was not how the Founders envisioned the Presidency.  And Nixon paid a very high price for his arrogance.

Arguably, we have a President once again who believes he’s above the law.  Who seems to reject the idea that there are three co-equal branches of the government.  He must have been absent from school the day they taught his class about checks and balances, separation of powers.  And even though he taught constitutional law, at a pretty good law school, he seems to look at the United States Constitution as just a list of suggestions, not the law of the land, which actually has to be followed.

A few examples.  Obamacare was rammed down the throats of the American people, without a single Republican vote.  Obama and his Democrat allies used to gleefully proclaim that it was now “the law of the land” and therefore had to be followed.  Apparently what Obama actually meant was that it was the law of the land to be followed by everyone else, but not by him.  Obama has unilaterally, and I believe illegally, changed, delayed, or revised Obamacare no fewer than 38 times now.

Obama

Another example, immigration.  The immigration laws in this country are actually pretty clear.  But President Obama doesn’t like them, so he’s announced he’s not going to enforce them.  And his announcement has been heard loudly and clearly around the world, especially in countries south of our border.  Huge numbers of children and teenagers, mostly unaccompanied, are pouring across our border with Mexico.  And when reporters have asked them why they’re coming now, in such large numbers, they’ve been quite honest.  They believe if they can make it into the United States, Obama will let them stay.

And now Obama has announced he wants even more of your tax dollars to provide for these illegal entrants into our country.  And of course it’s reasonable to assume that they’ll be followed by even more family members in the months and years ahead, and that they’ll too expect to be supported by your tax dollars.  (And it’s also reasonable to assume that the vast majority of these “new Americans” will vote Democrat.)

Another example of President Obama ignoring the separation of powers, and acting extra-legally – our drug laws.  He thinks they’re too tough.  He’s just instructed his Justice Department not to enforce them.

The same with our welfare laws, which were toughened under a Republican Congress, working with a Democratic President, Bill Clinton, back in the mid 1990’s.  Work requirements were added back then.  Unless you were disabled, or in certain hardship cases, in order to receive a welfare check, you had to work, or be working on your education.  And it was actually working; our welfare rolls had been cut in half.  But Obama unilaterally weakened the welfare work requirements, even though the law says otherwise.

So what can be done when our top elected official shows such disdain for our most sacred document, the Constitution?  When the Executive Branch of our government tramples all over the powers and responsibilities of the Legislative Branch?

Speaker Boehner has decided to take the matter to the third, and co-equal branch of our government, the Judicial Branch.  The House of Representatives will file a federal lawsuit against Barack Obama, the head of the Executive Branch, alleging that Obama is breaking his oath of office in failing to faithfully execute the laws of the United States.

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I’m not sure how successful Speaker Boehner’s effort will be, but I intend to support it.  And there have been some encouraging decisions lately by the U.S. Supreme Court, rebuking President Obama.

First, the Supreme Court ruled 9-0 that President Obama abused his power when he made an end-run around the United States Senate, and made “recess appointments” to the National Labor Relations Board, even though the Senate wasn’t actually in “recess.”  The court stated that the Senate gets to decide when it is in recess, not President Obama.  Then two days ago, in a 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court ruled against Obama again in the so-called Hobby Lobby case.  It’s nice to see the court get it right for a change!

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Unfortunately, by the time the Boehner vs Obama case winds its way through the courts, it could be several years from now, and the Obama Presidency could be winding down, or even over.  And as the arrogance of this President seems know no bounds, it’s probably not reasonable to assume that he’ll let this lawsuit deter his power grabs.

Thus, those of us who still believe in a representative democracy, based on Constitutional law, must remain vigilant.  I can assure you that I will do so.

Post Script: Unrelated to this week’s blog, is an interesting article I just read by Stuart Rothenberg in Roll Call.  Don’t let the title of the article “Why is the Media Ignoring Hillary Clinton?” put you off, it’s an interesting take on the Hillary phenomena.

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