KEY POINTS: HOUSE LITIGATION vs. EXECUTIVE OVERREACH - WHY THE HOUSE IS TAKING ACTION TO SUE THE PRESIDENT · This isnt about Republicans versus Democrats; it’s about the Constitution versus unconstitutional and unilateral actions by the Executive Branch, and protecting our democracy. · The Constitution says the president must faithfully execute the laws, and makes clear that only the Legislative Branch has the power to legislate. · The current president has demonstrated he believes he has the power to make his own laws – at times even boasting about it. He has said that if Congress won’t make the laws he wants, he’ll go ahead make them himself. That’s not the way our system of government was designed to work. · The aggressive unilateralism practiced by President Obama presents a challenge to the constitutional balance of powers, and the House is compelled to respond. · If this president can get away with making his own laws, future presidents will have the ability to do it as well. No president should have the power to make laws on his or her own. · Every Member takes an oath to uphold and defend the Constitution. When the Executive Branch tries to encroach on the powers of the Legislative Branch, it should be cause for concern for every Member who has taken that oath. THE BASICS OF THE HOUSE LITIGATION · The president’s unilateral actions on the health care law’s employer mandate will be the focus of the litigation brought by the House. There are many examples of executive overreach by the president, but his actions on the health care law are the ones that give the House the best chance of success in the courts. · The litigation will focus solely on the health care law because that’s how the suit needs to be structured in order to ensure the House has standing. Basing the litigation on a laundry list of grievances against the president would make standing more difficult. · In the case of the health care law’s employer mandate, the president changed the law without a vote of Congress, effectively creating his own law by literally waiving the mandate and the penalties for failing to comply with it. He legislated without the Legislative Branch. The Constitution doesn’t give presidents the power to do that. No president should have such authority. That’s what the House litigation will argue.
Posted on: Fri, 11 Jul 2014 03:25:16 +0000
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