"Judicial Branch Has a Responsibility to Reconstitute the Separation of Powers"

Press Release

House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) is right to initiate legal action to compel President Obama to faithfully carry out the nation's laws, U.S. Representative Martha Roby (R-AL) said Thursday.

In a memo to House Members, Speaker Boehner made the case for challenging executive actions in court as a way to stop the pattern of overreach by the Obama Administration. Rep. Roby has long advocated for engaging the Judicial Branch as a check on the Executive Branch's increasingly imperial behavior.

"Speaker Boehner is right to initiate legal action to rein in the Executive Branch and check this Administration's blatant disregard for the rule of law," Rep. Roby said. "While the House has dutifully exercised Executive Branch oversight, we have limited legislative options, particularly with the Senate leadership's unwillingness to do anything that might make the White House look bad.

"When the Executive Branch repeatedly acts outside of its authority and ignores the rule of law, the Judicial Branch has a responsibility to reconstitute the separation of powers. It might take time, but engaging the Judicial Branch might be the surest way to end the abuse of power and compel the President to faithfully execute the laws as they are written."

Rep. Roby is a co-sponsor of H. Res. 442, the STOP Resolution (Stop This Overreaching Presidency), which is designed to bring legal action from the House of Representatives on particularly egregious executive actions. Authored by Rep. Tom Rice (R-SC), the STOP Resolution would direct a civil action in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia challenging unilateral Obama Administration actions that flout Constitutional restraints on the Executive Branch, including:
The lifting of Affordable Care Act-mandated requirements on the type of insurance providers can offer;


The arbitrary one-year delay of the health care law's employer mandate;


The adoption of a policy against deporting certain illegal immigrants, counter to U.S. immigration and naturalization laws; and


The decision to waive compliance with "welfare to work" laws.

In a speech in support of the STOP Resolution from the House floor in January, Rep. Roby said such action is regrettable, but necessary.

"Mr. Speaker, I wish this wasn't necessary," Rep. Roby said. "I wish President Obama and his administration officials had the self-restraint to act within their Constitutional bounds. However, this administration's pattern of aggressively overstepping its authority to implement policy and win political battles leaves us no choice but to act.

"Our Constitutional constraints on government are not always convenient for political or policy goals. But, they are necessary for preserving the checks and balances that ensure this government still derives its authority from the people, not the other way around."

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