Sadly, Presidents have the power of the Executive Order granted by Congress. Every President has used them and some more than others. The real debate on the signing of Executive Orders is not about quantity but more about the content and the motivation to execute an order. In the last few years, we have witnessed Barack Obama using Executive Orders as a major skirt of power over the Legislative Branch of government.
It must also be known that not only does the President have authority, but the Office of the Presidency has authority, which quietly gives a hands-off deniability to the man in the office. So, we have at least three if not more authoritative entities within the ranks of the White House…..bet you did not know that. Remember all government employees including the President are civil servants and all government buildings and lands belong to the citizens. They work for us and we are in total ownership…..make your voice heard and your message must be delivered.
Well, Senator Ted Cruz has published three reports on the abuse of power by Barack Obama and the most recent third report is here.
The Legal Limit: The Obama Administration’s Attempts to Expand Federal Power
The Abstract Summary includes:
The cases highlighted in Sen. Cruz’s report include:
- NFIB v. Sebelius (U.S. Supreme Court): Obamacare’s conditions on Medicaid funding are unconstitutional.
- Texas v. United States (U.S. Supreme Court): The Department of Justice imposed unconstitutional preclearance on Texas’s redistricting plans.
- Texas v. U.S. Department of Interior (Eastern District of Louisiana): The Department of Interior imposed an unlawful moratorium on offshore drilling.
- Texas v. EPA (U.S. Supreme Court): The Obama Administration’s EPA tried to expand its power by regulating greenhouse gases.
- Texas v. U.S. Department of Education (5th Circuit): The Department of Education illegally withheld from Texas $830 million in educational funding.
- Texas v. EPA (5th Circuit): EPA tried to override Texas’s program for incentivizing facilities to voluntarily comply with air permitting regulations.
- Luminant Generation Co. v. EPA (5th Circuit): EPA unlawfully blocked Texas’s air permitting program.
- EPA v. EME Homer City Generation L.P. (U.S. Supreme Court): EPA illegally imposed a cross-state air pollution rule.
- Texas v. Crabtree (Southern District of Texas): A Department of Commerce agency unlawfully promulgated an emergency fishing rule in the Gulf of Mexico.
- Texas Pipeline Association v. FERC (5th Circuit): A federal energy agency illegally ordered pipelines to report intrastate business activities.
Additionally, Texas has the following lawsuits pending against the Obama Administration:
- Texas v. EEOC (Northern District of Texas): A challenge to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s unlawful hiring guidelines that prevent employers, like Texas, from categorically excluding convicted felons from employment.
- North Dakota v. EPA (District of North Dakota): A lawsuit to require EPA to designate areas of the country as complying with national air quality standards, after EPA missed the deadlines for doing so under the Clean Air Act.
- Oklahoma v. EPA (Western District of Oklahoma): An action brought by 12 States against EPA, seeking to gain access under the Freedom of Information Act to documents between EPA officials and environmental groups.
- State National Bank of Big Spring v. Lew (D.C. Circuit): A challenge to Title II of Dodd-Frank, which gives the Treasury Secretary and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation unilateral authority to take over and liquidate large financial institutions.
- Texas v. EPA (D.C. Circuit): A case challenging EPA’s designation of Wise County as an ozone non-attainment area.
