"I didn't mean THAT court, I meant this one."
John Boehner is ready to sue President Obama, but the House speaker may not be able to make it through the courthouse doors.
Boehner announced Wednesday that he would sue the president for his failure to “faithfully execute the laws of this country.” In the opinion of the speaker, according to a memo he circulated, Obama’s reliance on executive orders meant that he was acting with “king-like authority at the expense of the American people and their elected legislators.” As a result, Boehner said he planned to sue the president over executive orders to be named later under the aegis of a resolution passed by the House of Representatives.
But Boehner may not be able to do so. According to Erwin Chemerinsky, the dean of the University of California, Irvine Law School, the speaker of the House does not have the ability to sue the president in this situation, even if Congress says he does. Chemerinsky says “standing,” the doctrine that allows a person to file a lawsuit in federal court by demonstrating that real harm has been caused to them, is defined by the Constitution. As a result, even if Congress passes a law, or in this case a resolution, which only requires approval by the House, it will not be binding on federal courts, as the Constitution trumps any law, let alone a resolution, and does not give members of Congress the ability to sue if they cannot prove real harm.
Michael Steel, a spokesman for Boehner, said there were no issued with standing. Other Republican representatives echoed that position, including Rep. Charles Boustany of Louisiana, who called Boehner’s proposed suit “an outstanding move.” Conservative Rep. Steve King of Iowa added, “This is something that I’ve looked at and worked towards for a long time.”
