Just one day after President Obama acted without congress on an immigration overhaul, the GOP took their chance (a long time coming) to file a lawsuit in a Washington, D.C., federal court, which takes a look at how the implementation of the Affordable Care Act relates to congress’ role in the democratic process.
“The Executive Branch has no authority to expend public funds that have not been…appropriated,” the lawsuit said, arguing the appropriation of funds is a core responsibility of Congress.
The House lawsuit, however, is more narrowly constructed. It alleges the health law doesn’t specifically allow funding for payments to insurers to reduce deductibles on health plans sold through the health law’s insurance exchanges to people with very low incomes. In that way, the suit alleges a concrete injury the House suffered as an institution, rather than a more general—and less likely to prevail—claim the administration isn’t enforcing the laws the way the chamber would prefer.
House Speaker John Boehner said in a written statement lawmakers had an obligation to act to protect the Constitution. “Time after time, the president has chosen to ignore the will of the American people and re-write federal law on his own without a vote of Congress. That’s not the way our system of government was designed to work,” he said.
The White House has dismissed the legal attack:
“Instead of passing legislation to help expand the middle class and grow the economy, Speaker Boehner and House Republicans are spending hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars pursuing a lawsuit that is without any sound legal basis,” White House spokeswoman Brandi Hoffine said.
The judge will have to consider whether the House has the legal right, or standing, to sue the administration. Even if it does, legal doctrine holds courts are inappropriate venues to resolve certain “political questions” better left to the democratic rough and tumble. Moreover, unlike private parties, Congress has its own constitutional process for punishing a president it believes has egregiously transgressed: impeachment. The case has been assigned to U.S. District Judge Rosemary M. Collyer, who has served on the Washington court for more than a decade.
