# Boehner's lawsuit against Obama. **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [July 11, 2014, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boehners-lawsuit-against-obama/692870 "2014-07-11T16:16:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2014, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boehners-lawsuit-against-obama/692870/1 "2014-07-11T16:16:18Z")
So Boehner has announced what the Republicans are going to sue Obama over. One gets the impression that they decided to sue before they even knew what they were going to sue over. And what are they going to sue over? Obama’s delaying of the employer mandate provision of the ACA. > **[House GOP will sue President Obama over health care mandate](https://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/house-gop-will-sue-president-obama-over-health-care-mandate-msna366736)** > > Speaker John Boehner is asking the House to authorize legal action against the White House over its implementation of the Affordable Care Act. So, help me out here. In the remote event that they actually win this suit, the result would be that a policy they oppose will be implemented faster, over the wishes of businesses. Republicans. Suing. To stop a delay that was requested by the business community. 😕 Am I understanding it correctly? What standing do they have? How were they harmed? They themselves tried to implement such a delay last year. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2014, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boehners-lawsuit-against-obama/692870/2 "2014-07-11T16:22:22Z")
As Obama said. > [@](#): > > The truth is, even with all the actions I’ve taken this year, I’m issuing executive orders at the lowest rate in more than 100 years. So it’s not clear how it is that Republicans didn’t seem to mind when President Bush took more executive actions than I did. Maybe it’s just me they don’t like. I don’t know. Maybe there’s some principle out there that I haven’t discerned, that I haven’t figure out. You hear some of them — ‘sue him,’ ‘impeach him.’ Really? Really? For what? You’re going to sue me for doing my job? Okay. > > I mean, think about that. You’re going to use taxpayer money to sue me for doing my job — while you don’t do your job. > > There’s a great movie called ‘The Departed’ — a little violent for kids. But there’s a scene in the movie where Mark Wahlberg — they’re on a stakeout and somehow the guy loses the guy that they’re tracking. And Wahlberg is all upset and yelling at the guy. And the guy looks up and he says, ‘Well, who are you?’ And Wahlberg says, ‘I’m the guy doing my job. You must be the other guy.’ Sometimes, I feel like saying to these guys, ‘I’m the guy doing my job, you must be the other guy.’ ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2014, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boehners-lawsuit-against-obama/692870/3 "2014-07-12T01:36:17Z")
What’s the scientific word to describe someone who is determined to shoot their own foot off using only their mouth? Is there a German or Swedish word for that maybe? ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2014, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boehners-lawsuit-against-obama/692870/4 "2014-07-12T01:46:25Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > What’s the scientific word to describe someone who is determined to shoot their own foot off using only their mouth? Is there a German or Swedish word for that maybe? _Mundfußschießen_? ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2014, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boehners-lawsuit-against-obama/692870/5 "2014-07-12T02:08:51Z")
Let’s go to the quarry and throw stuff down there! My poor translation-fu renders that as something like “can fuss shoot”. Well, let’s open up a can of fuss shoot on these motherfuckers! Hmmm… that kinda almost works… 😛 ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2014, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boehners-lawsuit-against-obama/692870/6 "2014-07-12T02:30:25Z")
The best part is even the nuts at RedState are calling this a stunt and mocking Boehner for it. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2014, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boehners-lawsuit-against-obama/692870/7 "2014-07-12T03:34:12Z")
REpublicans oppose the business mandate. However, the President did not have the authority to delay it, and I believe the courts will rule that it has to go forward. And Republicans, while opposing the mandate, do not believe the President should be able to delay it just because it is politically convenient for him to do so. Democrats must be forced to lie in the bed they made. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2014, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boehners-lawsuit-against-obama/692870/8 "2014-07-12T03:36:42Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > REpublicans oppose the business mandate. However, the President did not have the authority to delay it, and I believe the courts will rule that it has to go forward. And Republicans, while opposing the mandate, do not believe the President should be able to delay it just because it is politically convenient for him to do so. **Democrats must be forced to lie in the bed they made**. I don’t think this will turn out they way Boehner et. al. want it to turn out. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2014, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boehners-lawsuit-against-obama/692870/9 "2014-07-12T03:37:08Z")
And while I was initially skeptical of the Republican lawsuit, I’m glad they chose the issue over which they were most likely to win. Presidents only have the power to delay laws where the law gives them that power. Otherwise, they must faithfully execute the law. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2014, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boehners-lawsuit-against-obama/692870/10 "2014-07-12T03:38:08Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > I don’t think this will turn out they way Boehner et. al. want it to turn out. At the very least, it will clarify some rules. If a president can delay any aspect of a law he finds problematic, that’s useful for a future Republican President to know. If he can’t, that’s also important. Given the President’s horrible record in front of the judicial branch, I wouldn’t bet against the GOP lawsuit. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Greenjeans](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.greenjeans/32/551_2.png) [@Mr.Greenjeans](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Greenjeans)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2014, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boehners-lawsuit-against-obama/692870/11 "2014-07-12T03:38:43Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > _Mundfußschießen_? Those Germans have a word for everything. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2014, 10:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boehners-lawsuit-against-obama/692870/12 "2014-07-12T10:07:30Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > REpublicans oppose the business mandate. However, the President did not have the authority to delay it, and I believe the courts will rule that it has to go forward. And Republicans, while opposing the mandate, do not believe the President should be able to delay it just because it is politically convenient for him to do so. Democrats must be forced to lie in the bed they made. In other words, they want to force implementation of the mandate _because_ they think it’s a bad idea. They want to hurt America to achieve the greater good: helping Americans hate Obama, the Democratic Party and government in general. ---
**Author:** ![Stratocaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stratocaster/32/16393_2.png) [@Stratocaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stratocaster)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2014, 11:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boehners-lawsuit-against-obama/692870/13 "2014-07-12T11:29:46Z")
> [@septimus](#): > > In other words, they want to force implementation of the mandate _because_ they think it’s a bad idea. They want to hurt America to achieve the greater good: helping Americans hate Obama, the Democratic Party and government in general. God almighty, this post is nonsensical even for this board. The point of the lawsuit as I understand it, is to ensure that the executive branch does not usurp the role of the legislative. I have no idea how this will turn out, but I agree completely with the sentiment, and I oppose (and opposed) ACA. This has been debated on this board, and the general concept isn’t that difficult, for example in [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=712734): > [@](#): > > But the cancelled individual contracts aspect is a great case in point for this discussion if such a power for HHS doesn’t exist. The cancelled contracts were not some unintended outcome. It was not some aspect of the law that hit an insurmountable (at the moment) obstacle that required some temporary plan B. That aspect of the law was unfolding _exactly as it was written_. If Obama had not lifted a finger, it would have produced EXACTLY the effect the legislature wrote in the law. Why in the world would the Executive branch get to suspend that, in defiance of the legislature? Obviously he suspended it for political reasons. Doesn’t that seem like an overreach for the Executive branch? The legislature enacted a law that, just to cite two examples, had a corporate mandate and prohibited certain health policies that lacked mandatory coverage requirements. Obama, in defiance of what was passed by the legislature, decided he would execute the law differently, in response to a political shit storm the law created. It certainly wasn’t because the law was unworkable or wouldn’t do exactly what it was written to do. Under what authority does Obama get to essentially shit can whatever aspect of a law he’d like, even when the law is doing exactly what the legislature wrote it to do? I think this is an extremely important constitutional question, and if there’s one top thing that has infuriated me from this administration, it’s how he wipes his ass with the constitution whenever it’s politically convenient. All this incredulous rhetoric–“Let me get this straight…the GOP wants to sue him for not installing _a law they opposed_ quickly enough? WTF?”–is laughable. The real outcome Dems should pin their hopes to, is that this will (in typical GOP fashion) blossom into what is perceived as just one more “the GOP hate little people and want the Prez to stop helping them” meme. We just can’t seem to stop stepping on our own dicks, and I’m confident that at any moment some imbecilic Republican Congressman will express his support for this effort in some form of bashing rape victims or suggesting we execute illegal immigrants. But please, enough with the faux astonishment and tortuous logic that (on this board) invariably leads to the conclusion that the GOP are Bond villains, plotting to destroy America. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2014, 11:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boehners-lawsuit-against-obama/692870/14 "2014-07-12T11:45:40Z")
The repubilcans would be happy to repeal the employer mandate. Problem is, the President doesn’t want to do that, nor do the Democrats. They just want to delay it until after the election. And maybe the election after that, depending on their political situation. They are probably just waiting for ACA to get popular and it’s taking longer than they thought. But until ACA does get popular, the administration can’t handle the job loss that the mandate will create. So it gets delayed until they can. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2014, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boehners-lawsuit-against-obama/692870/15 "2014-07-12T13:55:27Z")
> [@Mr.Greenjeans](#): > > Those Germans have a word for everything. Germans like to string words together. If they actually had a word for it, I thought ‘mouth foot shooting’ would be close. 😉 > [@Stratocaster](#): > > the GOP are Bond villains, plotting to destroy America. Not all of them are. Most are just dupes and minions of the GOP Bond villains. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![bucketybuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/898d66/32.png) [@bucketybuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bucketybuck)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2014, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boehners-lawsuit-against-obama/692870/16 "2014-07-12T14:16:45Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > And while I was initially skeptical of the Republican lawsuit, I’m glad they chose the issue over which they were most likely to win. So you agree that they decided to bring a lawsuit before ever knowing what said lawsuit was going to be about? American politics is insane. ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2014, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boehners-lawsuit-against-obama/692870/17 "2014-07-12T14:33:14Z")
> [@bucketybuck](#): > > So you agree that they decided to bring a lawsuit before ever knowing what said lawsuit was going to be about? > > American politics is insane. Exactly. My point is that this is about finding something, anything, to sue him over. The employer mandate delay did not bother them to the point where they felt that, for the good of the union, they must take a stand. They were looking for a stand to take and this was the best they could find. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2014, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boehners-lawsuit-against-obama/692870/18 "2014-07-12T15:01:33Z")
> [@Stratocaster](#): > > But please, enough with the faux astonishment and tortuous logic that (on this board) invariably leads to the conclusion that the GOP are Bond villains, plotting to destroy America. That’s a bit “pot calling the kettle black” considering how the GOP has attempted to paint Obama as everything from an illegal immigrant to some sort of programmed Manchurian Candidate to Obama is a Socialist / Communist to Ricky Perry’s assertion that Obama is somehow involved in some sort of conspiracy to smuggle thousands of illegals into America. I get that many people don’t agree with Obama’s policies or feel that he is an effective president. And there are certainly many non-crazy arguments to make on that behalf. However the GOPs constant painting of Obama as some sort of Bond villain plotting to destroy America makes them sound like either a party of lunatics or a very calculating party for lunatics. ---
**Author:** ![Stratocaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stratocaster/32/16393_2.png) [@Stratocaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stratocaster)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2014, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boehners-lawsuit-against-obama/692870/19 "2014-07-12T15:05:42Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > That’s a bit “pot calling the kettle black” considering how the GOP has attempted to paint Obama as everything from an illegal immigrant to some sort of programmed Manchurian Candidate to Obama is a Socialist / Communist to Ricky Perry’s assertion that Obama is somehow involved in some sort of conspiracy to smuggle thousands of illegals into America. I’m not excusing that on the GOP’s part. Not sure why it’s relevant to this topic though–unless, it’s just the standard “well, your guys do it too” no-shit assertion. The lawsuit either has merit or it doesn’t, but it’s not helpful analysis when the usual SDMB bombs get lobbed. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2014, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boehners-lawsuit-against-obama/692870/20 "2014-07-12T15:13:01Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > If a president can delay any aspect of a law he finds problematic, that’s useful for a future Republican President to know. If he can’t, that’s also important. I don’t understand the phrase “future Republican President”. That just doesn’t make sense to me, although it appears to be in English. > [@adaher](#): > > They are probably just waiting for ACA to get popular and it’s taking longer than they thought. But until ACA does get popular, the administration can’t handle the job loss that the mandate will create. So it gets delayed until they can. When the polls show that Republicans like the insurance they are getting and the horror stories have simply not shown up, I"d say it’s not a losing issue for Democrats. As for the job losses, EVERY new tax, law, or regulation has the corporate elite screaming about job losses which never come to pass. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boehners-lawsuit-against-obama/692870.md?page=2)