Tuesday, December 17, 2013

Trey Gowdy may not be able to stop Obama from fiddling while America burns,



Trey Gowdy may not be able to stop Obama from fiddling while America burns, but at least he’s calling him on it, which is more than can be said for a lot of Republicans.
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Trey Gowdy
South Carolina Republican Rep. Trey Gowdy said Sunday that the Obama administration’s deliberate flouting of congressional law “has reached an unprecedented level,” claiming the time is now ripe for Congress to take the White House to court over executive overreach.
Gowdy spoke with Fox News’ Shannon Bream about a House resolution authorizing a congressional lawsuit against the executive branch. Although individual lawmakers do not have standing to challenge the president, the provision would allow the institution of Congress itself to sue the Obama administration for ignoring laws passed by the legislative body.
“The case law that says members don’t have standing also allows for the institution itself — under a theory of vote nullification, that if the executive is just nullifying the votes of a co-equal branch of government — that we may have standing,” Gowdy said. “So an individual member — the case you referenced was Dennis Kucinich challenging the actions in Libya — he does not have standing. But the institution of Congress as a whole, if it relates to recess appointments or the Affordable Care Act or immigration, courts have signaled that they may say the institution itself has standing, and that’s what [South Carolina Republican Rep. Tom Rice] is trying to do with his resolution.”
…“I don’t like running to the court,” he told Bream. “I’d rather use any other remedy other than going to the court. But our other remedies have not worked, and the judicial branch is there for a reason. In certain circumstances Congress ought to be able to assert its standing, and I just think the pervasiveness of his ignoring of Congress has reached a point, we don’t have a choice.”
Barack Obama’s lawless presidency is creating a constitutional crisis. He seems to believe he can choose which laws to enforce and do whatever he wants, no matter what Congress says. That’s not just wrong, it’s dangerous for our Republic and the GOP has a responsibility to put him in check. It’s good to see that Trey Gowdy takes that responsibility seriously.

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