Posted on 03/17/2015 10:01:42 PM PDT by george76
resident Obama has found himself at odds with his old law school mentor over the Environmental Protection Agency.
Laurence Tribe, a liberal constitutional scholar at Harvard University, told House lawmakers that EPA carbon dioxide regulations are tearing the Constitution apart.
“EPA possesses only the authority granted to it by Congress,” Tribe told lawmakers in a hearing Tuesday. “Its gambit here raises serious questions under the separation of powers… because EPA is attempting to exercise lawmaking power that belongs to Congress and judicial power that belongs to the federal courts.”
“Burning the Constitution should not become part of our national energy policy,” Tribe added.
Tribe, along with other legal and energy experts, appeared before Congress Tuesday to give testimony on the EPA’s “Clean Power Plan” — the agency’s plan to cut carbon dioxide emissions from new and existing power plants. Tribe told lawmakers the CPP is unconstitutional and outside the agency’s authority.
EPA is attempting an unconstitutional trifecta: usurping the prerogatives of the States, Congress and the Federal Courts all at once,” Tribe told lawmakers.
This is not the first time Tribe criticized the EPA’s power plant rules.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailycaller.com ...
Ping to #37
Good post, thanks.
What happened in 1937?
There is nothing the EPA does that can not be done by the States.
In 1937, Roosevelt had been re-elected in a landslide, and decided to move against the Supreme Court, which had been declaring many of the acts of his New Deal agencies as unconstitutional acts of legislation by the Executive Branch.
He announced that he would appoint six new justices, bringing the total to 15 from 9.
This caused several justices of the existing 9 to change their minds about the constitutionality of delegating legislative powers from Congress to the agencies, and the proposal was dropped.
A non-delegation Amendment, OTOH, would RESTORE the people's right to have laws made ONLY by the representatives they elect.
I'm afraid we are too far gone towards executive dictatorship, because of the trend since 1960 to see the President as "representative of the whole people" rather than a hired hand. Just look at all the people here who argue over candidates as if how similar they are to them is the main qualification for senior executive leadership.
If 1 President = 100 Senators = 435 congressmen, then the minions of that one President have a right equal to, and arguably superior to that of Congress to legislate. Both Napoleon and AH used this argument to consolidate their power - that, despite the existence of representatives of groups of the People, only the LEADER represented ALL of the People.
In 1941, the (overwhelmingly Democratic) Congress directed FDR to make war on the Empire of Japan. This could not happen today.
So, if “our guy” gets in office defunding the EPA will be at the top of the list?
Oh, I'd do more than that.
I'd take on the abuse of the commerce clause and the open-borders crowd.
eliminate it.
Then, repeal of the Clean Air Act (1963), the Wilderness Act (1964), the Water Quality Act (1965), the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act (1968) and the National Environmental Policy Act (1969).
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3269063/posts?page=37#37
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