For someone who taught
constitutional law, Obama has forgotten (or simply chooses to ignore) one
critical legal topic: separation of powers.
Our Founding Fathers created a limited form of government with three
branches, but Obama seems to think he’s the only one, blatantly disregarding
authority of the courts and Congress. His
approach has been to do what he wants, irrespective of what the Constitution
dictates.
The Heritage Foundation identified
a number of policy areas where “the President and the federal agencies under
his command have spurned congressional authority to achieve Obama’s
objectives.” The policy areas that
Obama has claimed control over include immigration, the environment, labor and
the internet.
Obama’s EPA has regulated the
emission of carbon dioxide. The National
Labor Relations Board has done a number of radical measures, such as reducing
the time allowed for unionization elections, lodging unfair labor practices
complaints against companies for making business decisions about where to hold
plants and requiring that companies post a notification of union rights in the
workplace. The Department of Homeland
Security has instructed attorneys to utilize prosecutorial discretion in
immigration cases, effectively implementing the DREAM Act, which was never
passed by Congress. The Department of
Justice refused to enforce the Defense of Marriage Act, despite being passed by
Congress.
But it’s not only the legislative
branch that Obama ignores. The judiciary
is also disregarded. Although an appeals
court ruling denied the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) authority to
regulate the internet, the FCC voted to set limits on internet traffic.
A number of individuals are alarmed
by the usurpation of power by the 44th president. Former Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell
and American Civil Rights Union fellow Ken Klukowski have called it an “imperial presidency,” where “Obama is
now claiming powers far beyond what any president has before, remaking
America’s economy even when Congress refuses to go along with him.” Dan Kish, vice president of the Institute for
Energy Research, said,
“It is outrageous… Like it or not, Congress has the power to write laws.” Mike
Petrilli, an executive vice president of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, predicted
that the Obama administration “will run into legal trouble … I don’t think he
has the authority.”
When Congress has not passed a
measure Obama wants to be law, Obama’s agencies have issued their own administrative
rules anyway. What Obama does not like
actions of Congress or the courts, he simply ignores them. Obama should stop usurping power from other
branches, or otherwise the Constitution (signed 224 years ago, tomorrow) is sadly a dead letter.