It's not about politics, it's about the Constitution
Recently, I was able to discuss matters before the U.S. House with Staunton community leaders. One of the items scheduled for a vote in the week ahead included a resolution to challenge President Obama's unconstitutional actions in court. The News Leader trivializes this lawsuit as partisan politics, but there's nothing partisan about upholding our Constitution.
The Constitution is clear: it is the role of Congress to make all laws, the Judiciary to interpret the laws, and the President to enforce the laws. This system was wisely set into place by the Founding Fathers to avoid concentrating power in one branch of government.
Unfortunately, there has been a rapid accumulation of power in the Executive Branch under this Administration. While it is not new for a President to stretch his authority, law professor Jonathan Turley has observed that executive overreach "has accelerated at an alarming pace under President Obama" and "there is a danger in his aggregation of executive power."
President Obama routinely ignores the constitutional limits placed on the presidency, using his pen and his phone to waive, amend, and suspend our laws by executive decree. He refuses to enforce parts of immigration laws that are not to his liking, stretches his regulatory authority to circumvent Congress, and continues to change parts of Obamacare unilaterally.
Every Member of Congress takes a solemn oath to uphold and defend the Constitution. That's why the House voted, with my support, to authorize a lawsuit against President Obama to restore political accountability and the rule of law. This very specific litigation focuses on instances in which President Obama unilaterally delayed mandates in his signature healthcare law. While I oppose Obamacare and support its repeal, President Obama does not have the authority to strike and rewrite the law's mandates on his own.
Preventing President Obama from overstepping the boundaries of his constitutional authority is not about Republicans versus Democrats; it's about the Constitution versus unconstitutional, unilateral actions taken by the Executive Branch. The stakes of inaction are high and we must do all we can to preserve the separation of powers enshrined in our Constitution.
Rep. Bob Goodlatte
R-Roanoke
Rep. Bob Goodlatte represents Virginia's Sixth Congressional District and serves as Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee.