Opus 2014-161: It Is Called “Impeachment”, Mr. Speaker

It seems strange for supposed supporters of the Constitution to try an end run around the Constitution in order to enforce the Constitution.

That is what House Speaker John Boehner is trying with his proposal to sue the Obama administration for the use of Executive Actions.  The president has acted illegally.  I have no question about that.  He has violated the Constitution and should be dealt with but the Constitution has an established procedure for that.  It is called impeachment.  There is nothing in there about publicity stunts because you don’t have the testosterone to follow the rules yourself.

I hesitate to link to a rag like the New York Times but it is one source of information.  The article quotes Boehner,

“The Constitution makes it clear that a president’s job is to faithfully execute the laws; in my view, the president has not faithfully executed the laws,”

I agree that this is a problem but the Constitution also gives the method for dealing with this.  It is called impeachment.  If he hasn’t done enough to be impeached then Boehner should sit down and shut up about lawsuits.  If you can’t see that he has done enough to be impeached then maybe you are not qualified to be in Congress.  Then again maybe that is the place to send people who cannot see the obvious.

I can tell I am reading an article in the Times.  It explained the problem this way,

“The president has used his executive authority to carry out key elements of his second-term agenda, like halting the deportation of young illegal immigrants brought to the country by their parents as children, raising the minimum wage for employees of federal contractors, and allowing the Environmental Protection Agency to curb carbon emissions from coal plants.”

Notice how positive that sounds.  There is no indication that he is breaking the law and going around due process or exceeding his authority.  That is the Times at work.

The Times did get it right in its last paragraph,

“Courts have also generally been reluctant to intervene in separation-of-powers disputes between the executive and legislative branches of government, preferring to let them work out such questions using constitutional tools, like lawmakers’ power of the purse.”

So don’t waste our time, Mr. Speaker.  The courts won’t listen, and rightly so.  If you don’t have the manhood to impeach then use the other “constitutional tool” that you have.  Take away his ability to pay his minions.

homo unius libri