How Obama can legally decree amnesty for illegal aliens

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In the wake of the breakdown of congressional negotiations on immigration reform, President Obama has announced his intention at a White House press conference to “make some tough choices to meet the challenge — with or without Congress.” Many observers believe that this portends new executive action on the part of the president to issue an amnesty to millions of illegal immigrants. While there is doubt on the part of some that Obama can issue sweeping changes to the immigration system by Executive Order, the Constitution does allow the president to unilaterally issue an amnesty and his past actions prove that he would be willing to take that step.

 

Red State’s Dan Spencer points out that, as late as 2011, Barack Obama eschewed the notion that he could unilaterally change congressionally enacted immigration laws. The president said, “This notion that somehow I can just change the laws unilaterally is just not true…. There are laws on the books that I have to enforce.”

 

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GOP’s future may be tied to immigration reform

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The immigration reform bill is headed to the House of Representatives and an uncertain future.  The Senate passed the bill overwhelmingly on Thursday with a 68-32 vote.  Fourteen Republican senators joined the entire Democratic caucus to pass the bill.

 

The immigration reform bill is likely to face strong Republican opposition in the House, but many conservatives argue that passage of the bill will be a boon to Republicans.  As previously reported by Examiner, Republicans lost an embarrassing percentage of the Hispanic and Asian vote in 2008 and 2012.  The GOP won only 31 percent of the Hispanic vote in 2008 and did even worse in 2012 with 27 percent.  Likewise, the percentage of Asians voting for the GOP declined from 35 percent in 2008 to 26 percent in 2012.

 

It wasn’t always this way.

Read the rest on  National Elections Examiner

 

 

Court slaps Obama’s hand for unconstitutional recess appointments

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A federal appeals court ruled yesterday that President Obama unconstitutionally exceeded his executive authority when he made three recess appointments to the National Labor Relations Board last January.  As Examiner reported at the time, the president made the recess appointments in spite of the fact that the senate, which confirms presidential appointments, was still conducting pro forma sessions and was not in recess.

 

According to Article II section 2 clause 3 of the Constitution, the president has the power to fill vacancies that occur while the Senate is in recess. These recess appointments escape the immediate need to be confirmed by the Senate, but expire at the end of the next session of Congress.  However, Article I section 5 clause 4 states that neither house of Congress can adjourn for more than three days without the consent of the other. This is done by passing a resolution in both the House and the Senate. In the case of Obama’s appointments, there is no disagreement that Congress was not formally recessed since neither the House nor the Senate had passed a resolution to end the session.

Read the rest on Examiner:

http://www.examiner.com/article/court-rebukes-obama-for-unconstitutional-recess-appointments?cid=db_articles

Obama’s imperial presidency

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During the Bush presidency, the president was often accused by the left of acting unilaterally as an “imperial president.” It was charged that President Bush often ignored the will of the people and flouted the law with signing statements, acting more like a king than a president.

While the term has rarely been applied to President Obama, the current president’s actions have often been deserving of it. One of the most egregious examples of President Obama’s disregard for the rule of law and the Constitution was his decision to appoint three new members to the National Labor Relations Board and a head to the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau last week. Obama styled the appointments as recess appointments although neither the House nor the Senate was in recess.

 

Read this article on Examiner.com:

http://www.examiner.com/conservative-in-atlanta/obama-s-imperial-presidency