June 29, 2014

Speaker of the House Rep.John Boehner, made news last week by confirming that he intends to sue president Obama over his use of executive actions. It's always the same with R's. Whenever a Republican president uses executive authority it's perfectly fine in their eyes, but how dare an uppity Democratic president use the same tools.

Rep. Bob Goodlatte went on Fox News to defend this silliness and to his surprise, Chris Wallace wasn't buying it either.

WALLACE: Chairman Goodlatte, the president says, it's all politics, a stunt, he calls it.

REP. BOB GOODLATTE, R-VA.: Absolutely not, Chris. This is all about the United States constitution. Article 1 says the president of the United States -- I'm sorry, the Congress is the legislative body. All legislative powers herein granted shall rest in the Congress of the United States. Article 2 says the president shall faithfully execute the laws.

So, it's not about our wanting to stop him from doing his job. It's our wanting to do the job that the Constitution prescribes and not to take powers resting in the Congress and to, through not enforcing laws or changing laws that have been passed, taking power from the legislative branch.

It's very important and this should be bipartisan. People are standing up to protect the balance of power, the check against a too powerful executive branch. It's been done in the past. It needs to be done again.

Wallace had a rough show because he was playing more of a Republican advocate than show host, but that didn't stop him from exposing this lawsuit as complete nonsense.

WALLACE: Congressman Goodlatte, the courts have as a rule dismissed these cases saying that Congress doesn't have legal standing and in fact that there are other remedies at Congress' disposal. You could cut funding for the executive branch of the various programs. Ultimately, you could impeach the president.

Chairman Goodlatte, how do you answer that question that you have other remedies? And secondly, even if you go forward and even if the courts accept the suit, by the time it gets all the way through all the legal machinations, Barack Obama will be out of office.

GOODLATTE: Well, first of all, with regard to the powers that the Constitution provides the Congress in its system of checks and balances, there are several. We have the power of legislation, the power of the purse.

We have in the Senate, the power to confirm appointments, which was what the Supreme Court decision was all about. We have the power of oversight, holding hearings.

But we also have the power to bring causes of action when we believe that the president of the United States is exceeding his authority and is trampling upon Article 1 of the Constitution, powers granted to the Congress.

So, to me, it makes a whole lot of sense to do this. It's not the first time the court has been asked to do it. We have a case pending right now --(CROSSTALK)

WALLACE: And what about the argument by the time this gets settled, Barack Obama will no longer be president, sir?

The frivolous suit will never be argued before Obama leaves office so Rep. Goodlatte proves the point that this is a partisan witch hunt by trying to pass a new law to expedite the proceedings.

GOODLATTE: Correct. That's why we passed a law through the House, and I'm proud to say five Democrats joined with all the Republicans to say, yes, we should make it easier for this process to take place -- so that the court would hear a case when a majority of either the House or Senate or both elect to bring a case, and would do it in an expedited fashion with a three-judge panel and an immediate appeal to the Supreme Court which could be revived in six to seven months.

WALLACE: Of course, it hasn't gotten through the Senate.(CROSSTALK)

WALLACE: I have to move on, sir. We're running out of time.

Yes, we all have to move on, sir.

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