Bypassing Congress ‘Not How Democracy Works’
USA Today: ‘The Court Would Be Wise To Limit The President's Authority In This Area’
SEN. MITCH McCONNELL (R-KY): “…now, the Supreme Court will hear arguments in this case … on core constitutional principles like the separation of powers and the duty to take care that the laws are faithfully executed. … the Administration’s executive action ‘stands in stark contravention to federal law and to the constitutional principle of the separation of powers.’ It’s also an ‘explicit effort to circumvent the legislative process.’ Whether we’re Republicans or Democrats, this kind of partisan overreach should worry all of us — no matter who is in the White House.” (Sen. McConnell, Floor Remarks, 4/5/16)
PAPERS: President Obama’s ‘Lawless Integration Of The Executive And Legislative Functions Deserves A Rebuke’
WASHINGTON TIMES: “The Constitution was ratified more than two centuries ago, and in all that time no president had ever tested the limits of executive power enough to force the Supreme Court to rule whether he has lived up to the founders’ command that the laws be ‘faithfully executed.’ Until now.” (“Obama Amnesty Supreme Court Case To Test Limits Of Presidential Power,” The Washington Times, 4/17/16)
WALL STREET JOURNAL: “The case implicates the Constitution’s separation of powers and the basic precepts of self-government... The Framers wrote Article II’s Take Care clause to prevent the President from claiming... lawmaking powers. The executive shall—not ‘may’—execute Congress’s laws faithfully, in one of the Constitution’s most specific instructions.” (Editorial, “‘I Am President. I Am Not King,’” The Wall Street Journal, 4/17/2016)
- “This case gives [the Supreme Court justices] an opportunity to reset the political system for the post-Obama era. His lawless integration of the executive and legislative functions deserves a rebuke before the practice becomes a permanent feature of U.S. politics.” (Editorial, “‘I Am President. I Am Not King,’” The Wall Street Journal, 4/17/2016)
USA TODAY: “While courts have typically given great deference to presidents in matters of immigration, this is simply too sweeping a policy change to exclude the legislative branch.” (Editorial, “Obama's Immigration Order Overreaches: Our View,” USA Today, 4/17/2016)
- “The court would be wise to limit the president's authority in this area, and leave Congress and the White House to work out through the legislative process how to handle undocumented immigrants...” (Editorial, “Obama's Immigration Order Overreaches: Our View,” USA Today, 4/17/2016)
- “The order's biggest flaw, however, is the precedent it would set by giving the president sweeping authority to interpret immigration laws virtually any way he or she sees fit.” (Editorial, “Obama's Immigration Order Overreaches: Our View,” USA Today, 4/17/2016)
FLASHBACK
PRESIDENT OBAMA: ‘I’m Not The Emperor,’ Bypassing Congress ‘Not How Democracy Works’
PRESIDENT OBAMA: “The problem is that I’m the president of the United States, I’m not the emperor of the United States. My job is to execute laws that are passed. And Congress right now has not changed what I consider to be a broken immigration system.” (President Obama, Google Hangout, 2/14/13)
- OBAMA: “With respect to the notion that I can just suspend deportations through executive order, that’s just not the case, because there are laws on the books that Congress has passed… The executive branch’s job is to enforce and implement those laws. And then the judiciary has to interpret the laws. There are enough laws on the books by Congress that are very clear in terms of how we have to enforce our immigration system that for me to simply through executive order ignore those congressional mandates would not conform with my appropriate role as President.” (President Obama, Univision Townhall, 3/28/11)
- OBAMA: “I know some here wish that I could just bypass Congress and change the law myself. But that’s not how democracy works.” (President Obama, Commencement Address At Miami Dade College, 4/29/11)
- OBAMA: “…if we start broadening that, then essentially I would be ignoring the law in a way that I think would be very difficult to defend legally.” (President Obama, Remarks, 9/17/13)
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SENATE REPUBLICAN COMMUNICATIONS CENTER
Related Issues: Immigration, Supreme Court, Executive Orders
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