by Ken Vincent, Featured Contributor
If it is true that we are judged more by our actions than our words then Obama has established that he is an Emperor with his latest executive order regarding immigration. Supporters of his latest executive order argue that he is just following the precedent set by Reagan and Bush (41). Not true. The two prior presidents issued executive orders implementing or clarifying a bill passed by congress and signed into law by a sitting or prior president.
Obama’s executive order does not address an aspect of a law, it unilaterally creates a law. Far beyond the constitutional powers of a president and “Emperor Obama” must be seen now as “having no clothes” but standing bare for all to see his intent as defined by his actions.
This isn’t a question of do we need immigration reform, or what should that look like, or are the terms of the executive order good or bad. It is solely a question of does a president have the authority to write law without the congress.
Can the present or next congress stop the executive order by not funding it. Not really because that agency is largely self sustaining by it’s fees. So what options are available? The house can file a law suit challenging the legality of the executive order. That in effect would stop implementation until the suit is resolved buying time to get the new senate seated in January and then for the two houses to pass a bill that would override the executive order.
Will the house do that? Maybe, maybe not. They will have to weigh the political risk in doing so. Will they be seen as obstructionists or as saviors of our liberty and our form of government? What would you vote to do if your were a member of the house?
Of course the other option, and one that while more extreme is in my mind a possibility, is for the congress to file for some type of censure of Obama as having violated the constitution that he is sworn to uphold. That would take both houses and wouldn’t be done until the new senate is seated in January.
