Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Imperial Presidency?

Read Denninger's take on the Obama Administration's flaunting of the Judge Vinson's ruling.
So now we have a White House that has declared its intent to ignore a declaratory judgment.


The Administration has no right to do this.


Obama's White House has exactly two options:


* Comply with the ruling. This means that any and all activity authorized or mandated by the Statute cease now.


* File an appeal and ask for a stay pending its hearing. If said stay is granted, then the ruling is held pending consideration.
Denninger includes a link to Mark Levin's similar opinion.

Obama called Mubarak today to urge him to declare he is not running for re-election, which he was apparently planning to do anyway and has now done. I suspect Obama had been made aware of Mubarak's intentions before the Administration issued its statement.

Nevertheless, in the spirit of peace, love, and unicorns, I offer the same advice to Obama.

If the Executive Branch of the Federal Government thinks it can ignore a Federal Court order to cease and desist, exactly where does that leave the rule of law? Where is the balance of power? Where are the checks and balances? Where is the respect for due process?

If the issue is Judge Vinson's having been appointed by Reagan, liberals shop judges all the time looking for favorable rulings and injunctions against things like gay marriage bans or tougher laws against illegal immigrants. Can we ignore those rulings, or does the sword of justice cut only one way?

The fact is that a legitimate member of the Judicial Branch has flatly stated why the individual mandate is unconstitutional and has said the law cannot be implemented or enforced. The Administration says, "We're going to do it anyway."

Can you imagine the uproar if a Republican administration tried to pull this? Remember Watergate? Remember Iran-Contra? Just because he "won", a president does not get to do whatever he wants. Hugo Chavez is not an appropriate role model.

To use one of those car analogy Obama (aside:  has anybody ever seen this guy drive a car?) loves so much, the Administration has been stopped for doing 75 in a 45. The officer has written them a ticket, and Obama has ripped it up and thrown in the officer's face. If I did this, I would be maced, tasered, and face down on the ground with my hands cuffed behind my back. And justifiably so. See, you can fight it in court; you can claim it was a speed trap. You can claim that the guy's radar gun was improperly calibrated. What you can't do is ignore the rule of law and drive on your merry way.

Perhaps we need to show the Egyptians how it's done.

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