A follow up to An increasingly dangerous presidency and More on Obama lawlessness.
You can read the full testimonies at the links. The key thing is that there may be no remedy — other than at the ballot box in 2014 — to Obama’s lawlessness. There are issues of standing (who can sue) and other gaps caused by the separation of powers which may allow Obama to get away with it, at least in part.
That’s the key thing that some misperceive — lawlessness is still lawlessness even if you can get away with it.
Professor Jonathan Turley, George Washington University Law Center (h/t Hot Air), testimony before Congress:
People of good faith can clearly disagree on where the line is drawn over the failure to fully enforce federal laws. There is ample room given to a president in setting priorities in the enforcement of laws. A president is not required to enforce all laws equally or dedicate the same resources to every federal program. Even with this ample allowance, however, I believe that President Barack Obama has crossed the constitutional line between discretionary enforcement and defiance of federal law.
Professor Nicholas Rosenkranz, Georgetown Law Center (text via Gretawire)(added – full text here):
The President has a personal obligation to “take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed.” The word “faithfully” is, perhaps, a broad grant of discretion, but it is also a real and important constraint. The President cannot suspend laws altogether. He cannot favor unenacted bills over duly enacted laws. And he cannot discriminate on the basis of politics in his execution of the laws. The President has crossed all three of these lines.
There also was a good discussion on Greta tonight. If I can find the video, I’ll post it.
Update 12-4-2013: Here’s the video:
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