Playing Politics with the Constitution and the Law
--by Roger Pilon, January 5, 2012
Today POLITICO Arena asks:
Did Obama have the authority to make the Cordray and the NLRB appointments, since the Senate is technically not in recess? And will the president’s shift from bipartisan conciliator to partisan agitator pay off? My response:
All of Obama’s appointments yesterday are illegal under the Constitution. And, in addition, as too little noted by the media, his appointment of Richard Cordray to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is legally futile. Under the plain language of the Dodd-Frank Act that created the CFPB, Cordray will have no authority
whatsoever.
Yesterday, Professors John Yoo and Richard Epstein, writing separately, made it crystal clear that the president, under Article II, section 2, may make temporary recess appointments, but only when the Senate is in recess. Add in Article I, section 5, and it’s plain that the Senate is presently not in recess, just as it wasn’t
under Senate Democrats when George W. Bush wanted to make recess appointments. The difference here is that Bush respected those constitutional provisions while Obama — never a constitutional law professor but only a part-time instructor – ignores them as politically inconvenient. Attempts by Obama’s apologists to say the Senate is not in session are pure sophistry and, in the case of Harry Reid, rank hypocrisy, as this morning’s Wall Street Journal brings out.
But clear beyond the slightest doubt is the language of the statute (itself unconstitutional on any number of grounds not relevant here). As my colleague Mark Calabria wrote yesterday, “authorities under the Act remain with the Treasury Secretary until the Director is ‘confirmed by the Senate.’ A recess appointment, even if it were constitutional, is not a Senate confirmation. There is simply no wiggle room in that language that gives Cordray any authority, as litigation will soon make plain.
So what is this? It’s politics — Chicago politics, plain and simple. If any doubt remained, three years into his presidency, that Obama is a master demagogue, with class warfare as his central tool, this incident should dispel it.
Where are all those outraged democrats who lambasted President Bush for supposed evils and disregards for the Constitution, and the rule of law, now? Oh, that's right! Leaning back on their hypocritical backsides praising the lawless actions of THEIR president! You folks on the left want to blast senate republicans because they thwart confirmation of Obama's nominees? What hypocrites! Democrats have done the same.
I have never been more angry at a sitting president in my entire adult life than I have been with president Obama. I cannot wait to see this man leave the White House! Four more years of this man and we may not even have a country left recognizable by constitutional standards! It's obvious that Obama views the constitution with contempt, and is in violation of his oath of office.
According to Mark Levin,
Wednesday, January 4th...
"The president now considers it a political virtue, that he's doing precisely what he criticized Bush for doing; making laws as he goes along. Now Obama says, 'I refuse to take no for an answer... When Congress refuses to act and as a result hurts our economy and puts people at risk, I have an obligation as president to do what I can without them.'
"Ladies and gentlemen, that is a forthright statement of a dictator."
Right. If Obama can't get what he wants legally, he'll ignore the Constitution and do it anyway, like the sovereign he believes he is.
Then there's this from Arnold Ahlert
at the Canadian Free Press...
“When Congress refuses to act and as a result hurts our economy and puts people at risk, I have an obligation as president to do what I can without them.” — President Barack Obama
While I always identify the speaker of a quote, it is especially necessary this time. Why? Because if you remove the president’s name from the statement, it becomes really easy to imagine any number of other people making it. For example, plug in Chinese president Hu Jintao, Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez, or Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. Is there any doubt that any of these men would we more than willing to act, if they saw an “obligation” to do so, without the messy necessity of dealing with their respective legislative bodies?
Remember when, right after the 2010 election, a lot of the media were wondering if Barack Obama was going to “move to the center” or practice the politics of “triangulation” that got Bill Clinton re-elected? Such musings are a testament to the self-inflicted blindness that affects far too many people who get paid to see through such nonsense.
When this man was running in 2008, I implored Americans to understand that this country was divided by many issues, but first and foremost among those issues was a simple reality: there are those Americans who add up the plusses and minuses of the American experience and come to the conclusion that this country, warts and all, is still the best nation of earth — and the last, best hope of mankind. Then there are those Americans who engage in the same calculations and conclude that we are at best, just another country, and at worst, the nexus of all that is wrong in the world.
Bewitched by the monumental load known as hope and change, Americans put the latter group in charge of running the nation. They were so bewitched that even when the president, five days before the election, proclaimed he was only that far away from “fundamentally transforming the United States of America,” a majority of voters elected a man with the deadliest combination of inexperience, radical ideology and unbridled hubris this nation has ever endured. And just for good measure, they gave him an unassailable majority in Congress including, for a brief time, a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate.
[...]
One more year of this man thumbing his nose at the Constitution whenever it suits him will be damaging enough. Five more years? The 2012 election may come down to retiring Mr. Obama — or the Constitution.
That's what this blog has been about from the very beginning... questioning the impact of an Obama presidency on the future of the United States of America. The question repeated over and over these last three years has been exactly Ahlert's... In 2012, will we retire Mr. Obama, or the Constitution?
The truly amazing aspect of all this is Media's complete lack of coverage of Obama's repeated constitutional 'missteps' -- and I'm being generous. Media has outright failed in it's self-ascribed duty to be the watchdog of the American people against government tyranny. They have failed. All one needs to do to confirm this is check the ratings of MSNBC, CNN, NBC, CBS, and ABC News to understand that the American people have abandoned the Pravda networks, because, in their eyes, Mainstream Media has failed main street.
These failed propaganda outlets can mock Fox news all they want, but Fox's ratings are what they are because the American people, by and large, recognize that Fox is 'fair and balanced' in their reporting of the news-- much of their commentary shows are fair and balanced as well. The minority of news viewers who insist the Pravda networks are superior in balance and accuracy are deluded sufferers of wishful thinking... because the ratings say otherwise. People desire truth, and they'll invariably flock to wherever the greatest truth can be found.
The point, however, is that America is failing fast, and I don't mean economically or in global stature (although these things are occurring as well). America is failing constitutionally. If and when that happens she will cease to the nation of our birth... that Lady will have died. If and when that day ever comes, we may as well be living in Venezuela for all our votes and say in government will matter. We will be plantation slaves to our political masters.
Some more reading for you...
The Lawless Obama Regime
Here's What America Will Look Like If Obama Wins
This Power Grab's a Sign of Weakness
Obama Thumbs Nose at Constitution on 'Recess Appointments'
Cordray's Recess Appointment Sure Doesn't Look Constitutional to Me
Earning Their Hatred
That last piece perfectly illustrates the deranged support this president receives from the American Prava. ZERO constitutional justification is offered to legitimize Obama's actions in his appointments... the Senate was NOT in recess-- if you'll remember, the Senate did the same to Bush to prevent him from making recess appointments. Bush was not willing to thwart the Constitution, but Obama, acting like the king he believes he is, has no such qualms contravening what he views as a "charter of negative rights", the very 'charter' he swore to support and defend against all enemies, foreign
or domestic. An oath he is in violation of, and not for the first time.
'Earning their hatred' appears to be the only reason for the article itself. The author's own reasoning-- to earn the heretofore unjustified hatred of his [the president's] detractors --is the only justification he offers, and the only justification leftists nationwide need to support their lawless president. The Left, it has been shown over and over and over again, does not care about constitutionality, or saving
constitutional America. They care about 'fundamentally transforming America' into a welfare state, where everyone is dependent upon the state for its daily sustenance. That, readers, is not America... it's Cuba, its communist Russia... but it's certainly not America.