Title: Obama Dares GOP: Go Ahead, ‘Have a Vote on Whether What I’m Doing Is Legal…I Will Veto’ Source:
mrctv URL Source:http://www.mrctv.org/blog/obama-go- ... at-i-m-doing-legal-i-will-veto Published:Feb 27, 2015 Author:Craig Bannister Post Date:2015-02-27 10:29:01 by cranky Keywords:None Views:1684 Comments:10
Pres. Obama is daring Republicans to vote on whether or not his executive actions are legal.
“So in the short term, if Mr. McConnell, the leader of the Senate, and the Speaker of the House, John Boehner, want to have a vote on whether what I’m doing is legal or not, they can have that vote. I will veto that vote, because I’m absolutely confident that what we’re doing is the right thing to do.”
Obama argued that he has merely “expanded my authorities” – not broken any laws:
“What we’ve done is we’ve expanded my authorities under executive action and prosecutorial discretion as far as we can legally under the existing statute, the existing law. And so now the question is, how can we get a law passed.”
Obama called the “political process” a “separate track”:
So we’re going to have to keep on with the political process on a separate track. But in the meantime, we’re going to do everything that we can to make sure that we implement executive actions as we’ve discussed.
In addition to these “shortcuts,” the immigration law must be changed, as well, Obama said:
“There are only so many shortcuts. Ultimately, we have to change the law. And people have to remain focused on that.”
Obama argued that he has merely “expanded my authorities” – not broken any laws:
“What we’ve done is we’ve expanded my authorities under executive action and prosecutorial discretion as far as we can legally under the existing statute, the existing law. And so now the question is, how can we get a law passed.”
As the Court made clear, Obama did not issue any executive order and the executive actions re immigration were issued by Jeh Johnson. Then the Court issued a Temporary Injunction against them.
There is no way for the executive to lawfully expand its own authorities. A better description of the Jeh Johnson actions is usurping and lying about it.
Yes, but officially Jeh Johnson issued orders, not Obama. It provides some legal cover for Obama re something like impeachment, but Jeh Johnson cannot expand the powers of the president. The court in Texas held that no presidential executive order had been given and that Jeh Johnson exceeded his authority. That would seem very significant for any administration appeal. They must demonstrate that Jeh Johnson, as the head of DHS, had the legal authority to take the action he took. That may be why they did not go to the Circuit Court of Appeals.
