United States House of Representatives v. Burwell

United States House of Representatives v. Burwell, et al.[1] (also known as the House Republicans' lawsuit against President Obama) is a lawsuit in which the United States House of Representatives is suing departments and officials within the executive branch, asserting that President Barack Obama has acted illegally in his implementation of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The litigation was authorized in a simple resolution on July 30, 2014, by a party-line vote of 225 to 201. All 225 votes in favor of filing a lawsuit were Republicans, and 5 Republicans joined 196 Democrats to vote against such a lawsuit.[2][3] The vote authorized the initiation of "litigation for actions by the President or other executive branch officials inconsistent with their duties under the Constitution of the United States".[3] The lawsuit was touted by House Speaker John Boehner, and asserts that President Obama exceeded his constitutional authority in delaying the implementation of the employer mandate of the Affordable Care Act[2] and also "addresses Republican opposition to an estimated $175 billion in payments to insurance companies over the next 10 years as part of a cost-sharing program under the healthcare law."[4]

Republicans filed the suit on November 21, 2014 in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, one day after President Obama issued executive orders on immigration reform.[5][1][6] Republicans discussed expanding the scope of the lawsuit to include the executive orders that Obama issued on immigration, but the scope of the lawsuit was not expanded. Legal experts have said that the lawsuit is likely to fail.[4]

The named defendants are the United States Department of Health and Human Services and the secretary in charge of the department, Sylvia Burwell, and the United States Department of the Treasury and the secretary in charge of the department, Jacob Lew.[7]

Reactions

The action has been noted to be "the first time either the House or Senate as an institution has brought a lawsuit against a president over enforcement of the law",[8][9] and described the vote as "a historic foray in the fight over constitutional checks and balances".[10] Political commentators have speculated that the proposal of a lawsuit is designed to supplant efforts to impeach Barack Obama, based on Boehner's experience with the impeachment of Bill Clinton. The commentators also believe that on its merits the lawsuit has many shortcomings, and legal experts have said it is likely to fail.[11][12][4]

Observers have noted that Republicans had previously pressed for legislation to delay both the employer and individual mandates the previous year,[13] and that the day after voting to sue the President for what he saw as ignoring a law passed by Congress, Boehner called on the President to ignore a provision in an immigration law passed by Congress.[14] Obama responded to the plan to authorize a lawsuit against him, "Everyone sees this as a political stunt, but it’s worse than that because every vote they’re taking ... means a vote they’re not taking to help people."[15] Some prominent conservatives have ridiculed the lawsuit as being wasteful "political theater" and a "foolish move", while others criticized it for not going far enough, preferring to press for impeachment.[2]

Origins

The chief architects of the lawsuit are Florida International University law professor Elizabeth Price Foley and lawyer David B. Rivkin.[16][17] The lawsuit is authorized to challenge the actions by the President or other executive branch officials inconsistent with their duties under the Constitution, under Article II, section 3 of the Constitution, to "take care that the laws be faithfully executed." Foley testified in February 2014 before the House Judiciary Committee, providing a detailed four-part "roadmap" outlining how she believed the House could obtain "institutional" standing to assert an institutional injury.[18] Her subsequent testimony, in July 2014, before the House Rules Committee, provided further detail about her legal theory on both standing and the merits of a challenge based on the President's asserted failure to faithfully execute the law.[19]

On July 30, 2014 the House took a vote to move forward with a lawsuit to force the President to impose penalties on companies who failed to provide health care coverage for their employees.[20] On August 25, the House of Representatives retained the services of David Rivkin at a rate of $500 per hour with a cap of $350,000 for work on the lawsuit until January 2015.[21] It has been speculated that because the delay of the employer mandate will end by January 2015, the lawsuit, if filed, will likely become moot by then.[12] It was speculated that the plaintiff would choose to file either in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia (where Congress is physically located), or in a district that is politically hostile to Obama, on the theory that a lawsuit brought on behalf of the House could be brought where any House member lives.[21] It was noted, however, that conservative judges tend to construe standing issues narrowly, and would therefore be more likely to dismiss the case.[21] The case was ultimately filed in the District of Columbia.

After the first two law firms they hired to file the suit quit, the House GOP leadership was said to be exploring other options.[22] On November 18, 2014, it was reported that Jonathan Turley, a law professor at the George Washington University Law School had been hired to prosecute the litigation.[23]

Motion to dismiss the lawsuit

The Obama Administration challenged the plaintiff's lawsuit on the issue of standing, and asked that the lawsuit be dismissed. On September 9, 2015 Judge Rosemary M. Collyer ruled that the House of Representatives does not have standing to sue secretaries Burwell and Lew for improperly amending the healthcare law, but the House of Representatives does have standing to pursue the claims that the secretaries violated the Constitution by spending funds Congress did not appropriate. Collyer did not rule on the merits of the claims. The Obama Administration vowed to appeal the ruling, calling it "unprecedented", and describing the case as "just another partisan attack".[24]

Similar lawsuits

Florida orthodontist and Republican political activist Larry Kawa, and conservative legal advocacy group Judicial Watch, filed a similar lawsuit against President Obama in October 2013, claiming that he has "spent time and money to prepare for the Jan. 1, 2014" deadline for the employer mandate. Kawa claimed to have spent "100 hours preparing for the employer mandate", with an estimated "opportunity cost of $1.1 million". The orthodontist's lawsuit was dismissed in January 2014 for "lack of standing", but opening arguments for an appeal in the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals began on October 14, 2014. Kawa and Judicial Watch, like the backers of the House resolution, oppose the Affordable Care Act and have said they believe the law should be vigorously enforced to accelerate its failure.[25][26] On July 29, 2014 Robert Muise filed a related case for American Freedom Law Center v. Obama. In May, 2015, the case was dismissed for lack of standing.[27]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 United States House of Representatives v. Burwell, 1:14-cv-01967 (D.D.C., 2014).
  2. 1 2 3 Jeremy W. Peters, "House Votes to Sue Obama for Overstepping Powers", The New York Times (July 30, 2014).
  3. 1 2 "Final vote results for roll call vote 468".
  4. 1 2 3 Mai-Duc, Christine (November 21, 2014). "House Republicans sue President Obama over healthcare law".
  5. ↑ "House GOP sues White House over health care law".
  6. ↑ House files Obamacare Lawsuit; Politico; Josh Gerstein and Lauren French; November 21, 2014
  7. ↑ House Republicans Sue Obama Administration Over Health Law; New York Times; November 21, 2014
  8. ↑ Billy House and Matt Berman, "House Votes to Move Forward on Lawsuit Against Obama", National Journal (July 30, 2014).
  9. ↑ Alex Rogers, "House Grants Boehner Authority to Sue Obama" Time (July 30, 2014): "The House of Representatives passed a bill Wednesday granting House Speaker John Boehner the authority to sue President Barack Obama, marking the first time the legislative branch has endorsed such a lawsuit".
  10. ↑ Michael A. Memoli, "GOP-led House votes to sue Obama in first-of-its-kind lawsuit", LA Times (July 30, 2014), stating: "The House vote to sue President Obama is the first such legal challenge by a chamber of Congress against a president and a historic foray in the fight over constitutional checks and balances".
  11. ↑ "Sarah Palin says 'Impeach Obama!' but other Republicans flinch". Editorial. Chicago Tribune. July 13, 2014.
  12. 1 2 Hawkings, David (July 11, 2014). "Boehner’s Bet: Lawsuit Will Quiet Impeachment Calls". Politico.
  13. ↑ Acosta, Jim (11 July 2014). "White House: GOP voted to delay Obamacare mandate". www.cnn.com (CNN). Retrieved 11 July 2014.
  14. ↑ Berman, Russell (1 August 2014). "GOP Tells Obama to Ignore Congress One Day After Suing Him for Ignoring Congress". news.yahoo.com (The Wire). Retrieved 1 August 2014.
  15. ↑ Zachary A. Goldfarb, "Obama on GOP lawsuit: ‘Everyone sees this as a political stunt’", The Washington Post (July 30, 2014).
  16. ↑ Ian Tuttle, The Lawyers Behind the Lawsuit Against Obama, http://www.nationalreview.com/article/382021/lawyers-behind-lawsuit-against-obama-ian-tuttle
  17. ↑ Elizabeth Price Foley and David B. Rivkin, "Can Obama's Legal End-Run Around Congress Be Stopped?", Politico (January 15, 2014).
  18. ↑ Testimony of Elizabeth Price Foley, "Enforcing the President's Constitutional Duty to Faithfully Execute the Laws" (February 26, 2014).
  19. ↑ Written Statement of Elizabeth Price Foley, "Providing for authority to initiate litigation for actions by the President inconsistent with his duties under the Constitution of the United States" (July 16, 2014).
  20. ↑ CASSATA, DONNA (10 July 2014). "House GOP Moves Ahead on Suing Obama". abcnews.go.com (Associated Press). Retrieved 10 July 2014.
  21. 1 2 3 Newhauser, Daniel (August 25, 2014). "House Hires Lawyer for Obama Lawsuit". National Journal.
  22. ↑ Gerstein, Josh; Haberman, Maggie (29 October 2014). "More turmoil for House GOP lawsuit against Obama". politico.com (POLITICO LLC). Retrieved 31 October 2014.
  23. ↑ Lauren French, "GOP hires legal scholar to oversee Obama lawsuit", Politico.com (November 18, 2014).
  24. ↑ Dunsmuir, Lindsay (September 9, 2015). "U.S. judge rules Republicans can pursue Obamacare lawsuit". Reuters.
  25. ↑ Nelson, Steven (Aug 27, 2014). "House Bills Taxpayers for Lawsuit as Similar, Privately Funded Case Unfolds". US News and World Report.
  26. ↑ "Orthodontist takes Obamacare fight to federal appeals court".
  27. ↑ Civil Action No. 14-1143 (RBW)
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