Our founding fathers must be rolling in their graves at President Obama’s latest degradation of the constitutional principles of separation of powers and his apparent disdain for co-equal branches of government by now dictating immigration law.
With Obama’s preference to issue presidential directives, it is quite evident that the president is more comfortable dictating than legislating.
 |
President Obama regularly bypasses Congress.
(AP Photo) |
For someone who bills himself as a constitutional scholar and historian, the president sure does not act like one. In one speech he will preach the need for bipartisanship and respect for the rule of law, and in the next he will say that “we can’t wait” for Congress to act in the interest of justifying his unilateral actions.
Obama has abused constitutional principles is several ways. He either orders executive branch agencies to issue new rules and regulations without the need for legislation while in other case he orders an agency not to enforce rules or regulations.
If all else fails, he issues executive orders directing that action be taken without the need for congressional oversight.
Obama’s tenure to date is rife with unconstitutional actions.
Lets look at some examples of his most egregious acts to date as documented by Lachian Markay of the Heritage Foundation:
“1. Environmental Regulation: President Obama has made it his mission to impose economy-killing environmental regulations on America in spite of clear congressional opposition. Take the White House–backed cap-and-trade bill, which would have created a market for “carbon credits” that businesses would have to trade in order to emit carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gasses.
The measure passed the House in 2009 but was defeated in the Senate. Undeterred, the Obama Administration sought to ram its agenda into law without congressional approval. It managed to classify carbon dioxide as a “pollutant” under the Clean Air Act, thereby granting the Environmental Protection Agency the authority to regulate its emission — despite warnings even from members of Congress who wanted to regulate carbon emissions but recognized the problematic nature of doing so without congressional approval.
2. Labor Law: Expanding powerful labor unions are another Obama Administration objective. On June 21, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) announced plans to dramatically reduce the time to conduct unionization elections.
But in 2009, the Senate moved in the opposite direction. It removed the “card check” provision from the misnamed “Employee Free Choice Act,” effectively sinking a measure that could have dramatically increased union membership by rescinding workers’ rights to a secret ballot election for union representation.
The NLRB’s new rule will reduce the length of elections from about six weeks to 10-21 days, thereby limiting employers’ abilities to present their own cases against unionization to workers — and making the formation of a union far more likely. Increased unionization was always card check’s purpose. The NLRB is now attempting to achieve the same goal without Congress’s approval.
3. Immigration Law: On immigration policy, the Obama Administration has not even waited for congressional action before charting its own legislative course. In May, Democrats reintroduced the DREAM Act — which would provide a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants who came to the United States before they were 16 — after the lame-duck Congress failed to pass it late last year.
But rather than waiting for Congress to act, officials at Obama’s Department of Homeland Security have instructed Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and attorneys to exercise “prosecutorial discretion” for illegal immigrants who have attended school in the United States, meaning far fewer such illegal immigrants will be prosecuted and deported. The agency cited a shortage of resources, but the decision amounts to a de facto implementation of the DREAM Act.
4. Selective Enforcement of Federal Law: Rather than push Congress to repeal federal laws against marijuana use, Obama’s Justice Department decided in 2009 that it would simply stop enforcing those laws. Proposals to legalize marijuana at the federal level consistently fail to win congressional approval, but the Obama Administration decided to implement its agenda in spite of that lack of legislative support.
The Justice Department again employed this tactic in February when it announced that it would no longer enforce another federal law: the Defense of Marriage Act. The administration did not agree with the law, so rather than attempting to repeal it via the standard legislative channels, it decided to ignore it.
5. Regulating the Internet: Obama’s Federal Communications Commission (FCC) decided late last year to assume authority over Internet regulation despite a ruling by a federal appeals court explicitly denying the commission that authority. In contradiction of the court’s ruling, the FCC voted 3-2 in December to pass the first-ever federal regulations on Internet traffic. The House has voted to block those regulations, but Obama has pledged to veto any such legislation.”
And let’s not forget about Obama’s appointment of over 30+ “Czars” to high government positions of responsibility without the need of Senate confirmation, which the Constitution requires. We now have a border czar, an auto recovery czar, a climate czar, an energy and environment czar, a government performance czar and a green jobs czar, just to name a few.
The president’s arrogance of power is best evidenced in his “so sue me” attitude toward Congress.
The president has created a constitutional crisis on healthcare and immigration. As we await a decision on healthcare and immigration by the Supreme Court the nation has been held hostage to years of delay, uncertainty and confusion with regard to healthcare and the rights of states to secure their own borders and population when the federal government will not enforce immigration laws.
Obama’s habitual abuse of his constitutional authority has had a direct negative effect on our economic recovery. By ruling out of ideology instead of reality he takes his eye off the real issues of import to the American people — jobs, gas prices, foreclosures, bankruptcies, entitlements, and debt.
You know Obama has gone too far when the New York Times acknowledges the obvious in an article by Charlie Savage published on April 22:
“One Saturday last fall, President Obama interrupted a White House strategy meeting to raise an issue not on the agenda. He declared, aides recalled, that the administration needed to more aggressively use executive power to govern in the face of Congressional obstructionism.
“For Mr. Obama, that meeting was a turning point. As a senator and presidential candidate, he had criticized George W. Bush for flouting the role of Congress. And during his first two years in the White House, when Democrats controlled Congress, Mr. Obama largely worked through the legislative process to achieve his domestic policy goals.
“But increasingly in recent months, the administration has been seeking ways to act without Congress. Branding its unilateral efforts ‘We Can’t Wait,’ a slogan that aides said Mr. Obama coined at that strategy meeting, the White House has rolled out dozens of new policies . . .”
Be careful what you wish for Mr. President.
You wanted to be sued and you were. And, should the Supreme Court rebuke your actions as unconstitutional, your legacy will be forever set in stone as a president who breached his oath and put his personal and political agenda above the rule of law and the people he swore to protect and defend.
Bradley A. Blakeman served as deputy assistant to President George W. Bush from 2001-04. He is currently a professor of Politics and Public Policy at Georgetown University and a frequent contributor to Fox News Opinion. Read more reports from Bradley Blakeman — Click Here Now.
© 2024 Newsmax. All rights reserved.