A couple of legal scholars recently said that it is a good idea to sue President Obama for overstepping his bounds when implementing the Affordable Care Act. They warned that the action is needed in order to defend the checks and balances system from an “uber presidency,” according to Fox News.
Jonathan Turley, a law professor at George Washington University, recently spoke at a hearing led by the GOP for the House Rule Committee. Turley said that the lawsuit accuses the president of altering the health care law without a vote from Congress.
“Today’s hearing is a historic step to address the growing crisis in our constitutional system — a shifting of the balance of power … in favor of a now dominant Executive Branch,” Turley said. “The Legislative Branch has lost the most, with the rise of a type of uber-presidency. Our system is changing in a dangerous and destabilizing way. … At some point this body has to take a stand.”
The other professor, from Florida International University College of Law is Elizabeth Foley. She echoed the comments made by Turley and said the lawsuit has an “excellent chance” of being successful.
When he announced a resolution last week, House Speaker John Boehner said, “The Constitution states that the president must faithfully execute the laws, and spells out that only the Legislative Branch has the power to legislate. The current president 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 and make them himself, and in the case of the employer mandate in his health care law, that’s exactly what he did.”
House Republicans and their witnesses are concerned that the president abused his authority given to him by the constitution during his terms as president.
“The president has instead selectively enforced the law in some instances, ignored the law in other instances and in a few cases changed the law altogether,” said Texas GOP Rep. Pete Sessions. Sessions is the committee chairman.
The House will hold a full vote on the resolution later this month.