APRIL 15, 2015
The issue of executive power gets court's attention
Liberal scholar chides the president for 'burning the constitution'
WASHINGTON, DC – President Obama's "overreach" when it comes to his administration's use of Executive Orders will come under scrutiny this week in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
The case, State of West Virginia v the Environmental Protection Agency, is already causing quite a stir, according to Dan Weber, president of the Association of Mature American Citizens.
"Liberals are coming out in droves to disparage one of their own-fellow liberal Laurence H. Tribe, one of the nation's top constitutional scholars. Tribe also happens to a self-described proud professor at Harvard Law School, one of whose students was President Obama, himself. In a brief he filed in the case, Tribe denounces the president's use of executive power, likening it to "burning the Constitution."
Professor Tribe once described President Obama as "one of the most amazing research assistants I've ever had." But, it appears that the president is no longer "teacher's pet," said Weber.
The left is up in arms, many of them calling Tribe a traitor. But the professor, who is representing the nation's largest coal producer, Peabody Energy, insists that he's following his conscience in this matter. "EPA is attempting an unconstitutional trifecta: usurping the prerogatives of the States, Congress and the Federal Courts all at once," he said.
The case is about an Executive Order issued by the EPA, at the behest of the president, that would severely restrict the use of coal for power generation. "If it is upheld, it'll result in massive job losses, particularly among the nation's coal miners. It will also cause sharp increases in the cost of electricity, impacting vulnerable senior citizens who can ill afford it," Weber said.
"Perhaps, more important is that the administration's excessive use of Executive Orders is a testament to the president's desire to become the nation's lawmaker-in-chief," he added.
"Here is one of Mr. Obama's most prominent cheerleaders, Laurence Tribe, taking him to task for transgressions against the Constitution. If it was enough to rouse the ire of adherents on the other side of the aisle, it is enough to galvanize those among us who believe in sanctity of the Constitutional."
This is not the first time that a supporter of the president's ambitions has 'jumped ship' when he overstepped his authority. Another noted liberal, Jonathan Turley, a law professor at George Washington University, also came under fire when he chided the president, and his surrogates, for his reliance on Executive Orders to avert Congressional opposition.
As Turley put it: "What the Democrats are creating is something very, very dangerous. They're creating a president who can go at it alone and to go at it alone is something that is a very danger that the framers sought to avoid in our constitution."
There's little doubt among the experts that the coal case will wind up on the Supreme Court's calendar, Weber concluded. "In the meantime, it is a reminder of the true legacy of this administration-a nation with an ever expanding, intrusive and progressive government establishment."
