Posted on 03/23/2015 5:25:24 AM PDT by HomerBohn
In an interview on Fox News yesterday, Ken Paxton, the attorney general of the State of Texas, was asked whether America is heading toward “a constitutional crisis” because of Obama’s total disregard for Congress and now the courts. (The segment begins at the 2:55 mark in the Fox News video, here.)
Paxton replied:
“I think we are. If you think about what’s going on here — the President is violating federal law, the U.S. Constitution, which is going past what Congress is supposed to be doing, and now we’ve got the administration in court not being forthcoming about they’re supposed to be forthcoming about. We definitely have a huge issue here related to whether the Obama administration is going to follow the Constitution, and then once they get into court, whether they’re going to tell the truth.”
Paxton’s stunning remark was precipitated by Obama’s latest “F-you” to the court, specifically to Andrew Hanen, the federal judge who is single-handedly doing the job of the useless Congress by standing up to Obama’s reckless amnesty.
On Feb. 16, 2015, U.S. District Judge Hanen issued a preliminary injunction to temporarily block Obama’s amnesty so as to give a coalition of 26 states the time they need to pursue a lawsuit to permanently stop the amnesty orders. If the implementation of Obama’s amnesty were not blocked, Hanen reasons, the 26 states will “suffer irreparable harm in this case” because once the millions of illegals obtain amnesty, “the genie would be impossible to put back into the bottle.” (See “Federal judge stops Obama’s executive amnesty for illegals”)
At issue are two executive memoranda signed by Obama last November:
•The first memorandum expands eligibility for Obama’s 2012 Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which halts deportations and allows work permits for certain undocumented immigrants brought to the country as children.
•The second executive memo, known as DAPA, would extend similar benefits to the parents of U.S. citizens and permanent legal residents.
See also “Obama has issued more executive orders than any U.S. president in history.“
Combined, DACA and DAPA could affect as many as 5 million immigrants living in the country illegally. Some estimates are as high as 10 to 12 million illegals.
4 days after Judge Hanen’s order blocking the implementation of Obama’s amnesty, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced it would seek an emergency stay of the judge‘s injunction. (See “Obama emergency order to restart amnesty in defiance of federal judge Hanen”)
Hanen responded by denying the DOJ’s request. So the federal government has asked the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans to lift Hanen’s injunction while the case is appealed.
Obama vs. Hanen
The latest tussle between Judge Hanen and Obama took place last Thursday, March 19, 2015.
As reported by FoxNews, at a Texas hearing on Obama’s amnesty executive actions, Judge Hanen sharply scolded a DOJ attorney — that the administration had misled Hanen on a key part of the program, for which Hanen fell “like an idiot.” Hanen said he could order sanctions against the administration if he finds the DOJ indeed had misrepresented the facts.
At issue is whether the DOJ had misled the judge into believing that a plank of the Obama amnesty program would not go forward before he made the Feb. 16 ruling to temporarily halt it. The program is the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) that gives deportation reprieves (i.e., effective amnesty) to thousands of young illegal immigrants brought to the U.S. as “minors.” The problem is that even before Hanen’s ruling on Feb. 16 to block DACA’s implementation, federal officials had already given 3-year reprieves and work permits to more than 108,000 illegal aliens.
Associate White House Counsel Kathleen Hartnett, a Harvard Law grad like Obama, successfully worked on repealing Don’t Ask Don’t Tell.
At the Thursday hearing, Hanen chided DOJ attorney Kathleen Hartnett for telling him at a January hearing before the Feb. 16 injunction was issued that nothing would be happening with regard to DACA until Feb. 18.
“Like an idiot I believed that,” Hanen said.
A flustered Hartnett repeatedly apologized to Hanen for any confusion related to how the reprieves and work permits were granted. “We strive to be as candid as possible. It truly became clear to us there was confusion on this point,” she said.
“Can I trust what the president says? That’s a yes or no question,” Hanen asked.
“Yes your honor,” Hartnett replied.
The coalition of 26 states have asked that Hanen consider issuing sanctions against the Obama administration because, in the words of the coalition’s lead attorney Angela Colmenero (who is also a lawyer with the Texas Attorney General’s Office), DOJ attorneys had made “representations (that) proved not to be true or at a minimum less than forthcoming.”
Obama’s DOJ lawyer Hartnett insists “There is absolutely no basis for sanctions here. The government is absolutely trying to do the right thing.”
Hanen said he would issue a ruling “promptly” on what action, if any, he will take against the Justice Department.
Obama and the politicians get rich and powerful while the masses cannot and will not recognize how they are being used and yes, abused.
Since it does not appear Obama is going to be impeached it is imperative that we pay attention to the upcoming elections and look for people that are more interested in saving the Constitution, our freedoms and our Country.
“...look for people that are more interested in saving the Constitution, our freedoms and our Country.”
Right, people who will reverse the damage that has been done and who will ‘right’ this ship. We MUST return to the Constitutional protocol
Heading toward?!? That ship sailed long ago.
The USC is now a fig leaf for the Federal to hide behind and give it "legitimacy" where none now exists.
It’s more than Obama flouting Congress—Congress has been intimidated into aborgating its Constitutional authority.
They like the perks and the power, but they don’t want the attendant responsibility—Similar to many bosses I’ve had over the years.
Our congress is like a police force of a sleepy little upper income town with no crime. They talk tough but don’t really do anything. And then some guy comes in and flaunts the very laws they are to uphold and they just want to ask him to please stop and keep threatening him, but do nothing.
A better analogy is the mom that pleads with her 2 year old to be good and stop pulling the cat’s hair, “please. Pretty please, or mommy will have to give you a time out.”
But the time out never comes, and now little johnny is banging a hammer through the wall, and mommy is saying, “please, please...”.
We need someone with the guts and moral fortitude to actually pursue, with vigor, charges based on clearly broken laws. Not that I think it will happen since, truth be told, they are all in the same “gang”, just different wings.
The fact that congress, the media and stupid libs are giving him a pass because he’s the first black president is ridiculous and should not stand. He’s not above the law because he’s black.
The libs and the MSM PLANNED it this way.
heading toward “a constitutional crisis”
Gee! I wonder what took him so long to see the obvious? We’ve been in a crisis since before January 20, 2008 but Congress hasn’t had the balls to address it.
We have two years left with this man in office. Using the past as an indicator of how fast he can destroy a once great country doesn’t bode well for the remaining two years.
I pray the knowledgeable voters soon get enough of this charade and remove him before it’s to late. I might add along with the removal of his enablers in both parties.
We are well past the “Constitutional Crisis” stage. We are actually transitioning to a dictatorship.
What we are missing is the guts to do something about it. We know Congress will not do anything.
You’re right!
The parasite has the ball rolling and it’s gained all necessary momentum. These final two years will be the change the Kenyan promised.
Sounds like a movie I've seen, with characters named Ransom Stoddard, Tom Donovan and Liberty Valance. Just an observation.
We know who Valance is, but who is our Tom Doniphon? and our Ransom Stoddard?
Or do we have them?
We have been in a Constitutional crisis for a long time. We just keep electing legislators whose paycheck and residence in Washington depends on their deliberate ignorance and denial of the issue.
“Can I trust what the president says? That’s a yes or no question,” Hanen asked.First I laughed out loud at this exchange (c'mon your honor, they already lied to you).
“Yes your honor,” Hartnett replied.
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