Legal Scholar Becomes Third Lawyer To Take On House GOP’s Anti-Obama Lawsuit

Speaker of the House John Boehner, R-Ohio, takes questions as he meets with reporters on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Nov. 13, 2014. With President Barack Obama poised to unveil a series of executive actions... Speaker of the House John Boehner, R-Ohio, takes questions as he meets with reporters on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Nov. 13, 2014. With President Barack Obama poised to unveil a series of executive actions on immigration, Boehner said "We're going to fight the president tooth and nail if he continues down this path. This is the wrong way to govern. This is exactly what the American people said on Election Day they didn't want." (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite) MORE LESS
Start your day with TPM.
Sign up for the Morning Memo newsletter

Jonathan Turley, a professor at The George Washington University and a constitutional scholar, has been hired by House Republicans to oversee their lawsuit against President Barack Obama over allegedly conducting executive overreach.

Turley (pictured, right) is the third lawyer Republicans have hired since July, according to Politico. The last two lawyers dropped the case and House Republicans still haven’t filed their lawsuit in federal court, Politico also noted.

The argument of the lawsuit by House Republicans against Obama is that he overreached by delaying a part of Obamacare that required employers to offer healthcare to their employees. Boehner has also said he would consider adding Obama’s planned executive action on immigration to the suit.

National Review on Monday flagged comments by Turley on Fox News where he said that if Obama takes executive action on immigration reform it would “tear at the very fabric of the Constitution.”

Turley himself addressed his participation in the lawsuit in a blogpost late Monday.

“It is a great honor to represent the House of Representatives,” Turley wrote. “We are prepared to litigate this matter as far as necessary. The question presented by this lawsuit is whether we will live in a system of shared and equal powers, as required by our Constitution, or whether we will continue to see the rise of a dominant Executive with sweeping unilateral powers. That is a question worthy of review and resolution in our federal courts.”

This post was updated.

Latest Livewire

Notable Replies

  1. It’s the Supremes who are shredding the Constitution declaring corporations to have the same rights as people. I wonder how much Turdley gets per hour?

  2. Avatar for deewus deewus says:

    Amazing that House leadership keeps offering this shit sandwich to the Tea Party when it’s obvious they will only settle for the sweet, sweet ham of impeachment

  3. I remember Turley as a competent legal analyst and regular on Keith Olbermann’s MSNBC show. I guess he changes opinions depending on who is paying.

  4. Clarence Thomas and the Supremes.

    Sounds like the name of a porn vid.

  5. Avatar for slider slider says:

    I wonder if the “tear in the fabric of the Constitution” would be a continuation of the “tear” begun by Reagan and continued by Bush1, or did that never happen?

Continue the discussion at forums.talkingpointsmemo.com

60 more replies

Participants

Avatar for system1 Avatar for bdtex Avatar for clk Avatar for cabchi Avatar for alliebean Avatar for bmcchgo Avatar for ncsteve Avatar for blue_grit Avatar for mymy Avatar for Patriott Avatar for radicalcentrist Avatar for bobatkinson Avatar for dswx Avatar for arrrrrj Avatar for thunderhawk Avatar for randyabraham Avatar for deewus Avatar for sniffit Avatar for daveyjones64 Avatar for docb Avatar for ifeveroheverawiztherewas Avatar for ottnott Avatar for gingercloud Avatar for dnl

Continue Discussion
Masthead Masthead
Founder & Editor-in-Chief:
Executive Editor:
Managing Editor:
Deputy Editor:
Editor at Large:
General Counsel:
Publisher:
Head of Product:
Director of Technology:
Associate Publisher:
Front End Developer:
Senior Designer: