A planned House Republican lawsuit against President Barack Obama is totally unjustified.
House Republicans are seeking to sue the president because his actions carrying out his health care law allegedly exceed his powers.
House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) has said he wants to take legal action because Obama has abused his authority to carry out laws Congress approves, specifically by delaying the 2010 health care law requirement that many employers provide medical coverage for workers.
Responding to complaints from business groups, Obama has twice delayed the employer mandate section of the health care law. The law requires companies with 50 or more employees working 30 or more hours a week to offer health care coverage or pay fines. It exempts small businesses with fewer than 50 workers.
The requirement was initially to take effect this year. Companies with 50 to 99 employees now have until 2016 to comply, while bigger companies have until next year.
This week lawyers backing the litigation against the president appeared before the House Rules Committee, which is considering Republican-written legislation authorizing the House to file the lawsuit.
The election-year suit should be strongly opposed by principled lawmakers and American voters.
After years of obstructing the president in the Republican-controlled House, the GOP is going too far by trying to resolve a political dispute by handing the question to the federal courts to decide.
Republicans are filing suit over a health care law they have opposed at every turn. The GOP-controlled House has voted about 50 times to repeal or restrict the health care law.
The House has a constructional right to protect Congress’ powers and stop a president from exceeding his authority.
But this lawsuit is about politics, not violations of the U.S. Constitution.
It would be easy to dismiss the GOP’s lawsuit against Obama as simply frivolous. But the lawsuit could set a dangerous precedent.
(Reprinted from the Philadelphia Tribune)
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