What might it mean, to sue Obama? Specifically, thirty-five Members of the House of Representatives want to sue Barack Obama, in his capacity as President. They allege he will not follow the law, and thus breaks the Constitution.

The STOP Act

Representative Tom Rice (R-S.C.-7th) introduced H. Res. 442, the Stop This Overreaching Presidency Act, last week. He claims 34 co-sponsors in the House. This is not a bill, and is a resolution of the House alone. So it need not pass the Senate.

The US Constitution. Photo: National Archives of the United States

When a President (or, as in this case, a de facto President) picks and chooses which laws he will enforce, and which not, a small group of Members of Congress can do nothing by themselves. The Supreme Court has earlier held that particular Members have no standing to sue a President on this ground. But that same ruling said the full House might have standing to sue as a body. To do that, the House must pass a resolution authorizing such legal action. Rice’s resolution would do that. If it passes, the House could then sue Obama as a body to force him to follow the law. On WND Radio, Rice explained why he wrote it:

I started working on this last July. Right after the extension of the employer mandate was in the press, one of the Democratic senators said, “How can the president do this?” That’s what spurred me to look at what we could do to force the president to enforce the law.

Rice and his 34 co-sponsors have four complaints against Obama. Extending the Minimum Coverage Mandate for Employers is one of them. The others:

• Waiving reporting under the welfare-to-work law, to let people stay on welfare.
• Not deporting illegal alien minors, after the DREAM (Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors) Act failed to pass.
• Waiving the Minimum Coverage Mandate for some, but not all, individuals last Thursday.

Will the House sue Obama?

That depends on what the House leadership will do. Mr. Rice said he’d spoken to Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Va.), the Republican Floor Leader. The latter said he was interested – whatever that means. Developing…

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