John Boehner: Makes Case For Suing Obama – Is Lawsuit Precursor For Impeachment?
John Boehner brought his case for suing President Obama to the opinion pages of CNN today, Boehner painting the President as one who has been boastful, flippant, and skirted the law in order to achieve his objectives.
“Too often over the past five years, the President has circumvented the American people and their elected representatives through executive action.”
The threat of a pending lawsuit against the President, as well as possible impeachment proceedings, has been simmering toward a boil on Capital Hill for some time, stirred by Boehner and other staunch conservatives who see President Obama’s executive actions far outreaching his executive privilege.
“The Constitution makes it clear that the President’s job is to faithfully execute the laws. And, in my view, the President has not faithfully executed the laws when it comes to a range of issues, including his health care law, energy regulations, foreign policy and education,” writes Boehner, framing his defense of the lawsuit to go hand in hand with the defense of the Constitution.
Boehner goes on to say that President Obama has “changing and creating his own laws, and excusing himself from enforcing statutes he is sworn to uphold — at times even boasting about his willingness to do it.”
An Ohio Republican, Boehner first floated the idea for the lawsuit in June. Welcome now to July, when Boehner plans to introduce a bill to the House that would allow the lawsuit against President Obama to move forward via the House General Counsel and the Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group, reports Time magazine.
President Obama, meanwhile, has poo-pooed John Boehner and the efforts of his Republican colleagues, calling the looming lawsuit “a stunt”, in a recent interview with ABC News‘ George Stephanopoulos:
“You notice that he (John Boehner) didn’t specifically say what exactly he was objecting to. I’m not going to apologize for trying to do something while they’re doing nothing,” argued the president. “You know, the suit is a stunt. But what I’ve told Speaker Boehner directly is, ‘If you’re really concerned about me taking too many executive actions, why don’t you try getting something done through Congress?'”
But John Boehner and his supporters appear to be having none of it:
“Over the last five years, starting — not coincidentally — when his political party lost the majority in the House of Representatives, the President has consistently overstepped his authority under the Constitution, and in so doing eroded the power of the legislative branch,” concludes John Boehner in his CNN op-ed. “The legislative branch has an obligation to defend the rights and responsibilities of the American people, and America’s constitutional balance of powers, before it is too late.”
So if things continue down their current path, the ongoing Boehner vs. Obama political battle will only intensify. But is pushing forward with this lawsuit just a precursor for John Boehner to lead the call for President Obama’s impeachment? Time will tell.
[Image via The Inquisitr]
