Conservative commentator Mark Levin has slammed House Speaker John Boehner's plan to sue President Barack Obama for his alleged abuse of power, calling it a "very risky and foolish move."
Levin, who calls himself a constitutional lawyer, warned that Obama would likely win the court case, which would then embolden the president to go around Congress with more executive orders.
"I really do cringe at this idea that the elected branch of government turns to the unelected branch of government, and in essence empowers the other branch to make these decisions," he said on his
Internet radio show. "That is not the way it is supposed to be. It troubles and worries me."
Levin said the federal courts often reject cases where the plaintiffs don't have any "standing," which he says is the case with Boehner's suit because Congress is a branch of government and not the House of Representatives alone.
"Even in a case where the full Congress, House and Senate, have brought a case, the courts have asked. Why are we involved in this? It's for you to duke it out, politically and electorally, with the executive branch.
"My problem is that it's an outlier argument — not the part whether the president is lawless; he is lawless. Let's say this case is quickly dismissed. Who will benefit from that? The House will be damaged by that in terms of the politics. But Obama cay say, 'Look at this, the courts agree with me.'
"It will embolden him and future presidents to violate the Constitution and to expand their illegitimate imperial power. This is playing with fire. I'm not kidding.
"Boehner has thrown this 60-yard pass into the federal courts … and it makes it makes me enormously nervous. And the outcome is, as I suggest, a disaster, because Obama will claim that courts have confirmed that he has this power."
Boehner said his lawsuit will challenge the Obama administration's move to delay by a year the Obamacare mandate that requires companies to offer health insurance to their employees or pay a penalty.
"The president changed the healthcare law without a vote of Congress, effectively creating his own law by literally waiving the employer mandate and the penalties for failing to comply with it," the
Ohio Republican said Thursday. "That's not the way our system of government was designed to work. No president should have the power to make laws on his or her own."
Levin also scolded Boehner for the timing of his lawsuit, saying he should have waited until after the November elections when Republicans are likely to recapture the Senate and the speaker could launch his suit with the full "standing" of Congress.
"Why would you risk this now? And the answer is, Boehner is playing politics, that's why. Boehner does not expect to win this, and that's why I find this irresponsible."
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