Nonpartisan report finds no legal basis for GOP lawsuit against Obama

(Image credit: Alex Wong/Getty Images)

last updated 8 January 2015

Republicans have for months been vowing to sue President Obama for his alleged lawlessness, yet a lawsuit has never materialized. That may well be because a nonpartisan report from the Congressional Research Service concluded last month that such a lawsuit would have no legal merit, according to Washington Monthly.

Remember, House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and other GOPers claimed Obama acted unconstitutionally by tinkering with ObamaCare after it became law. Yet the report, quietly finalized in September at the behest of an anonymous lawmaker, throws cold water on that claim.

Although shrouded in 12 pages of fine print and protectively bureaucratic phraseology, the report's bottom line is clear: not merely are the legal underpinnings of the Republicans' planned lawsuit weak; the report turns up no legal basis — no "there" there — at all. [...] In bland CRS-speak, this seems like a veritable finger in the eye — or perhaps, a blunt warning to the Speaker to drop the lawsuit project. [Washington Monthly]

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Jon Terbush is an associate editor at TheWeek.com covering politics, sports, and other things he finds interesting. He has previously written for Talking Points Memo, Raw Story, and Business Insider.

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