House Lawsuit against Obama to Proceed in Court

“Last year, a group of House Republicans filed a lawsuit against the Obama administration for spending $178 billion without congressional approval. The money being illegally spent is earmarked to reimburse insurance companies that provide health coverage under Obamacare. Specifically, it’s to pay the cost of the co-payments for lower income Americans who receive federal subsidies.”

“Obama administration officials, including those in Health and Human Services, made their own decision that the Affordable Care Act mandated the subsidy re-imbursements. However, the subsidy paybacks were never specifically approved by Congress, so now House Republicans are filing a lawsuit to stop the subsidy re-imbursements.

Many believe this is another attempt by House GOP to undermine and kill Obamacare.”

On Wednesday, US District Court Judge Rosemary M. Collyer for the District of Columbia ruled against the Obama administration’s motion to dismiss the case. They had argued that the House had no standing to bring the lawsuit since they were not harmed in any way by Obama’s illegal actions.

However, Judge Collyer ruled that House Republicans do have legal standing on which to bring their lawsuit since Obama’s actions violated the US Constitution and the rights of the House of Representatives. In her ruling, Collyer stated:

“Despite its potential political ramifications, this suit remains a plain dispute over a constitutional command, of which the Judiciary has long been the ultimate interpreter.”

Jonathan Turley, the attorney representing the House Republicans responded to the judge’s decision on his website, posting”

“The ruling today means that the United States House of Representatives now will be heard on an issue that drives to the very heart of our constitutional system: the control of the legislative branch over the power of the purse.

We are eager to present the House’s merits arguments to the Court and remain confident that our position will ultimately prevail in establishing the unconstitutional conduct alleged in this lawsuit.”

House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) led the lawsuit against Obama also responded to Collyer’s ruling by issuing a statement that read in part:

“The president’s unilateral change to Obamacare was unprecedented and outside the powers granted to his office under our Constitution.

I am grateful to the court for ruling that this historic overreach can be challenged by the coequal branch of government with the sole power to create or change the law.

The House will continue our effort to ensure the separation of powers in our democratic system remains clear, as the Framers intended.”

I’ve often referred to Boehner as being spineless and gutless for constantly folding and giving in to Obama’s demands. Time after time he has betrayed the American people who elected him by refusing to stand his ground against the tyranny of the White House. Perhaps there is some sense of responsibility to voters in Boehner after all.
 
I was surprised to see a District Court Judge for the District of Columbia rule against Obama so I looked up Judge Collyer’s history and discovered that she was appointed to the District Court by President George W. Bush. That means she’s not one of Obama’s plants and will be more likely to rule on law than on Obama’s agenda.

However, I strongly suspect that this case will make it all the way to the US Supreme Court where there are four liberals, four conservatives and one wishy washy Chief Justice. The case could go either way but I suspect that, if it comes down to Chief Justice Roberts’ vote, that he will side with Obama as he has been doing of late. 

Guess we’ll have to wait to find out.

http://godfatherpolitics.com/24977/federal-judge-says-house-lawsuit-against-obama-to-proceed-in-court/