Two other law firms have already dropped out of the House Republicans’ lawsuit against the president because they were embarrassed by it, but insufferable scold Jonathan Turley says the House “had me at hello.”
via TPM
“It is a great honor to represent the House of Representatives,” Turley wrote. “We are prepared to litigate this matter as far as necessary. The question presented by this lawsuit is whether we will live in a system of shared and equal powers, as required by our Constitution, or whether we will continue to see the rise of a dominant Executive with sweeping unilateral powers. That is a question worthy of review and resolution in our federal courts.”
In his blog post, Turley stresses that his primary concern is the separation of powers and “years of erosion of legislative authority,” but I call bullshit.
That may be a concern of his and a concern shared by many people, but he is squandering his quest to ‘rebalance the powers of the branches’ by using this lawsuit as a vehicle to achieve that.
In case you’ve forgotten, House Republicans are challenging the president’s authority to delay a provision that House Republicans themselves sought to repeal or delay. And if the president had instead chosen to implement the employer mandate sooner rather than later you might have standing to say that legislative authority has diminished, but he didn’t. He ultimately did exactly what House Republicans (the legislative branch) wanted by delaying the mandate. Now they’re suing him for doing what they wanted.
The House GOP’s proposed lawsuit (they haven’t actually filed one yet) is without injury and merit. The only reason you would take this case and pass it off as legitimate is if you’re a biased hack who hides their contempt for the president under legalese and histrionics.
Read this and tell me you don’t see what’s really going on here.
As many on this blog know, I support national health care and voted for President Obama in his first presidential campaign. However, as I have often stressed before Congress, in the Madisonian system it is as important how you do something as what you do. And, the Executive is barred from usurping the Legislative Branch’s Article I powers, no matter how politically attractive or expedient it is to do so.
“It is as important how do you something as what you do.”
Oh really?
Turley is not the first disaffected white male jackass who thought he was more subtle than he really is. Pointing out that he voted for the president in 2008 (but not 2012) is the cherry on top.
Jonathan Turley has a sad and its name is Obummer.