Tuesday, July 9, 2013

Obama Suspends the Law

Via WiscoDave

Like King James II, the president decides not to enforce laws he doesn't like. That's an abuse of power.

President Obama's decision last week to suspend the employer mandate of the Affordable Care Act may be welcome relief to businesses affected by this provision, but it raises grave concerns about his understanding of the role of the executive in our system of government.

Article II, Section 3, of the Constitution states that the president "shall take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed." This is a duty, not a discretionary power. While the president does have substantial discretion about how to enforce a law, he has no discretion about whether to do so.

This matter—the limits of executive power—has deep historical roots. During the period of royal absolutism, English monarchs asserted a right to dispense with parliamentary statutes they disliked.

King James II's use of the prerogative was a key grievance that lead to the Glorious Revolution of 1688. The very first provision of the English Bill of Rights of 1689—the most important precursor to the U.S. Constitution—declared that "the pretended power of suspending of laws, or the execution of laws, by regal authority, without consent of parliament, is illegal."

To make sure that American presidents could not resurrect a similar prerogative, the Framers of the Constitution made the faithful enforcement of the law a constitutional duty.

4 comments:

  1. The lawgivers and courts are no longer there to ensure justice....they are there to promote and provide their own weird sense of social justice. The problem for the courts and our pompous lawgivers is that they can also swing from a lamp post under this social justice.

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    1. The problem for the courts and our pompous lawgivers is that they can also swing from a lamp post under this social justice.

      Not the first time that's for sure.

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  2. There is one problem with this. He is NOT the President, never has been. He's ineligible and has been since day one. Everything he's done is illegal and the 544 traitors(Congress & SC) in that Potomac cesspool know it. As the Usurper, he can do whatever he wants, anytime he wants to.

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