House speaker John Boehners lawsuit against President Obama strikes a high-minded blow for the rule of law. Gamesmanship? Perish the thought. This isnt about Republicans and Democrats, the Speaker thundered on the House floor. Its about defending the Constitution we swore an oath to uphold. Well, thats a relief. For a moment there, I was worried that it might be a political stunt, which is what the soon-to-be defendant sloughed it off as. In urging the House to approve the resolution authorizing the suit, which it did in a party-line vote Wednesday, Boehner asserted that Congress needed to act - er, well, lets try that again. He asserted that Congress needed to plead with the judiciary to act because President Obama has overstepped his constitutional bounds. It takes a lawsuit, we are told, to check what the resolution describes as certain actions by the President and other executive branch officials inconsistent with their duties under the Constitution of the United States. Good to know its all about duty and constitutional propriety, not tactical considerations. But I do have one question: If the lawsuit is really about vindicating the Constitution, why didnt the Speaker include the presidents immigration lawlessness? Have a look at the resolution, here. It authorizes Boehner to sue Obama and his underlings for actions inconsistent with their duties under the Constitution and laws of the United States. But read on through the fine print - the gobbledygook of statutory citations - and you find that the lawsuit will be narrowly limited to executive overreach with respect to Obamacare. Dont get me wrong: The presidents implementation of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is, inarguably, a solid example of his lawlessness. In Faithless Execution, I outline the dozens of executive diktats: waiving this provision, amending that one, manufacturing taxes and criminal penalties, and generally usurping congressional power. But what about the presidents other serial statutory violations and unconstitutional usurpations? His systematic dismantling of federal immigration law outstrips even Obamacare in its brazen illegality. Yet, though this fact is well known to Boehner, a reference to immigration is nowhere to be found in his resolution or his lawsuit.
Posted on: Mon, 04 Aug 2014 22:24:23 +0000
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