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The Speaker of the House has announced his intent to file a lawsuit against President Obama over an alleged "misuse" of executive powers, reports Politico.
"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," said [Speaker John Boehner]. "When there are conflicts like this between the legislative branch and the administrative branch, it’s … our responsibility to stand up for this institution."
House Republicans have argued that Obama is misusing his executive powers by side-stepping Congress on immigration and other policies, including a decision to extend family leave to same-sex couples and bar federal contractors from discriminating against gay employees. ... The memo sent to the GOP conference mentioned executive actions on health care, energy, foreign policy and education, but did not delve into specific orders. The speaker’s office has not outlined what specific executive orders or actions the suit will cover, but Boehner said the lawsuit was not about convening impeachment proceedings against Obama.
The White House announced on June 16 that the President will sign a an executive order to extend LGBT non-discrimination protections to employees of federal contractors.
Boehner was "for" executive orders long before he was against them—when there was a Republican in the White House. The Ohio Republican congressman supported President George W. Bush's well-documented and extensive practice of issuing executive orders, notes Think Progress.
Bush issued hundreds of orders ... over his eight years in office. In 2001 and 2007, Boehner strongly supported unilateral actions by Bush to prevent embryonic stem-cell research involving new embryos, saying the 2001 decision “preserves the sanctity of life and allows limited research that could help millions of Americans suffering from life-threatening diseases.” He [also] endorsed a 2008 Bush executive order to limit earmarks.
President Obama has issued "about 180 executive orders" so far. That is "fewer executive orders than all but one of the other presidents since World War II," reports MSNBC.
In somewhat related news: The Supreme Court "dealt a significant blow to executive power" today by limiting the president's power to make recess appointments. The unanimous ruling found that President Obama "violated the Constitution in 2012 by appointing officials to the National Labor Relations Board during a short break in the Senate’s work." Justice Stephen G. Breyer wrote the majority opinion joined by the court’s four more liberal justices.