The House will spend at least $350,000 on lawyers to sue President Obama

The House will spend at least $350,000 on lawyers to sue President Obama
(Image credit: Alex Wong/Getty Images)

House Republicans have hired lawyer David Rivkin to pursue their lawsuit against President Obama. Rivkin, a partner at the Washington law firm BakerHostetler, is one of the originators of the legal theory undergirding the House's abuse-of-executive-authority suit. Specifically, the House says that Obama overstepped his powers by unilaterally delaying ObamaCare's employer health insurance mandate.

Rivkin and his associates can work up to 700 hours on the case — the contract hires him for $500 an hour but caps the fees at $350,000 through next January. Democrats are of course needling the proudly fiscally tight House GOP over the contract. "Only in John Boehner's world does it make sense to pay lawyers $500 per hour to work on a partisan lawsuit while refusing to raise the minimum wage to $10.10 for hardworking Americans trying to feed their families," said Rep. Steve Israel (D-N.Y.), who is (not coincidentally) heading up the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

Up next, House Republicans file the text of their lawsuit. Then they shop around for a friendly federal court to file it in.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
To continue reading this article...
Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.
Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.
Cancel or pause at any time.
Already a subscriber to The Week?
Not sure which email you used for your subscription? Contact us
Peter Weber, The Week US

Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.