How Democracy Works

Time and time again President Obama has exceeded the bounds of his constitutional authority.  And time and time again, we at the ACLJ have battled back in court and won.

On November 20, 2014, President Obama announced to the country that he was unilaterally making changes in immigration policy. In his speech, President Obama challenged Congress by stating, “[a]nd to those members of Congress who question my authority to make our immigration system work better, or question the wisdom of me acting where Congress has failed, I have one answer: Pass a bill.”

Congress refusing to enact President Obama’s preferred policy on immigration is not a failure to act, nor does the Constitution give the President any power to defy Congress. In fact, Congress has exclusive authority over immigration. President Obama acknowledged this very fact in 2011 when he stated: “And sometimes when I talk to immigration advocates . . . they wish I could just bypass Congress and change the law myself. But that’s not how a democracy works.”

However, like a spoiled, petulant child who didn’t get his way, President Obama has ignored our constitutional system and continually overstepped the bounds of his Executive authority to implement the changes he prefers. The limits on his authority, that President Obama so glibly ignores, were established by our forefathers—immigrants and the sons of immigrants—who well understood that the Balance of Powers is a delicate thing that must be preserved if our country is to flourish as a democratic republic. President Obama even acknowledged how America is a nation of immigrants in his speech, ironically stating that we should uphold the tradition and legacy of our forbearers.

But President Obama’s attempt to change immigration policy isn’t the first time that he has overstepped his Executive authority. On January 4, 2012, President Obama made several unconstitutional non-recess appointments to the National Labor Relations Board.  The U.S. Supreme Court later unanimously struck down his unconstitutional powergrab. The ACLJ was actively involved in that issue, and represented Speaker of the House, John Boehner, in an amicus brief.

President Obama again overstepped his Executive authority when his Health and Human Services (HHS) issued its ObamaCare abortion-pill mandate that required Christian businesses to pay for its employees abortion-pill coverage—even though so doing violated the religious beliefs and Constitutional rights of the company owners. In fighting this issue, the ACLJ represented numerous businesses and their owners in lawsuits challenging the HHS Mandate. Ultimately, the Supreme Court “held that the HHS Mandate violated the religious liberties of business owners.”

Another example of the Executive overreach that is symptomatic of the Obama Administration’s abuse of power is the IRS’s targeting of conservative 501(c)(3) and 501(c)(4) organizations. As you’ll remember, back in May 2013, the IRS admitted to “‘inappropriate’ targeting of conservative political groups during the 2012 election to see if they were violating their tax exempt status.” The ACLJ is currently representing “38 nonprofit organizations from 22 states throughout the country that were caught up in the IRS scheme of targeting tax-exempt applications based on their conservative viewpoints—viewpoints at odds with those of the Obama Administration.”

As always, the ACLJ is working hard to ensure that President Obama’s Executive overreach is checked, and that the Balance of Powers—as established by our forefathers—is preserved. Currently, we have filed four separate amicus briefs in federal district and the Court of Appeals for Fifth Circuit, in which we represent key Members of Congress—those Members that believe that President Obama had no authority to take Executive action to implement his immigration policies. ACLJ Chief Counsel Jay Sekulow has stated, “Our position is clear – President Obama’s executive action is unconstitutional and impermissibly disrupts the separation of powers.”

Our amicus briefs detail exactly how President Obama’s has overstepped his Executive power and violated the U.S. Constitution. We are working hard to hold President Obama accountable, and show him exactly “how our democracy works.”