On Wednesday, Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-OH) announced he is planning to file a lawsuit against the Obama Administration on the grounds of executive overreach.
“The Constitution makes it clear that a president’s job is to faithfully execute the laws. In my view, the president has not faithfully executed the laws,” Boehner told reporters. “This is not about impeachment, this is about his faithfully executing the laws of this country.”
The decision has garnered mixed reactions from both the right and the left. On radio this morning, Glenn played audio of Fox News’ Neil Cavuto grilling Congresswoman Michele Bachmann (R-MN) about the lawsuit and liberal Constitutional scholar Jonathan Turley telling MSNBC’s Steve Kornacki the suit may be warranted.
“Now, I saw on Neil Cavuto a clip with Michele Bachmann,” Glenn said. “Neil goes crazy on her. Neil says, ‘What are you doing? John Boehner is suing the President of the United States? That's what he is doing?’ ‘Yes, well, because he's overstepped his authority.’ I don't know object anybody else, but I can't take it.”
Cavuto pressed Bachmann as to why, after more than five years of lawlessness, Boehner finally decided it was time to file a lawsuit. He went so far as to call the stunt a “waste of time.”
For her part, Bachmann maintained President Obama’s attempt to “establish lawlessness in the United States” is a big deal.
Watch the heated exchange below:
Glenn admitted that his reaction to the news was much like Cavuto’s. He views Boehner’s action as a “shallow political trick” that is “sickening.” This morning, however, Glenn awoke to find that liberal law professor and Obama supporter Jonathan Turley believes Congress actually has a chance to win this case.
“Jonathan Turley is a guy who likes the President's policies, a guy who wants all these policies, but he is a Constitutional scholar,” Glenn explained. “On this particular case with the President, he's been ringing the bell for the last two years saying, ‘If Congress doesn't act to curb the President's power, we are losing the Constitution. We are losing the balance of power,’” Glenn explained. “Remember, he is not a guy who, like me, doesn't like the President or his policies… He's just saying the President is being lawless.”
During an appearance on MSNBC’s Hardball on Wednesday, Turley explained that even though he is a fan of the President, he cannot overlook the line that has been crossed.
“I think there is a case against the President for exceeding his authority,” Turley said. “I happen to agree with the President on many of his priorities and policies, but as I testified in Congress, I think that he has crossed the Constitutional line.”
“When the president went to Congress and said he would go it alone, it obviously raises a concern. There's no license for going it alone in our system, and what he's done, is very problematic,” he continued. “He has effectively rewritten laws through the active interpretation that I find very problematic. While I happen to agree with him, I voted for him, I think this is a problem.
Watch Turley’s comments below courtesy of Real Clear Politics:
While Glenn did not elaborate as to whether or not Turley’s remarks swayed his opinion on the issue, he did commend the law professor for speaking so candidly.
“This is the kind of thing that America needs to hear,” Glenn concluded. “These are the kinds of things that my friends on the left need to hear. You don't have to believe me, but you have to start hearing the truth.”