McConnell: No more Obama judicial confirmations?

That’s not quite what Mitch McConnell proposes here in his interview last night with Hugh Hewitt, but functionally it will likely amount to the same thing. Hugh wants an end to judicial confirmations as a payback for Harry Reid’s “nuclear option” last session in removing filibusters from the process, and asks whether McConnell will follow through on it. McConnell tells Hugh that the Senate has only confirmed those judges Barack Obama has appointed that pass muster with the Republican caucus, and that’s how he sees the rest of the session going:

HH: And my last question goes to judicial nominations. I am one of those people who wouldn’t confirm another judge given the antics they pulled last year. But what is the situation vis-à-vis federal judicial nominations and the process in the Senate right now?

MM: Well, so far, the only judges we’ve confirmed have been federal district judges that have been signed off on by Republican Senators.

HH: And so you expect that that will continue to be the case for the balance of this session?

MM: I think that’s highly likely, yeah.

In other words, McConnell leaves the door open for Obama to nominate judges that the Republican majority find acceptable. It’s a formula that arguably enforces the “advice” part of “advice and consent” in the Constitution (Article II, Section 2), but with the operational wrinkle that flexes McConnell’s muscle. Normally, a President would have some leeway to gain majority approval from the Senate as a whole, but the attempt to derail minority input in the last session means McConnell wants to play hardball in this session, especially after Obama and Reid used it to pack the DC Circuit Court of Appeals.

Via: Hot Air

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ObamaCare Faces Possible Illegality Ruling Again

In one of the most uplifting and inspiring statements made by an individual American citizen, Iowa small business owner Matt Sissel, said to the Pacific Law Foundation (PLF), concerning having to pay for the government ObamaCare plan, “It’s dispiriting to see our lawmakers treat the rules set out in the Constitution with disrespect, as if they’re just suggestions, or as if members of Congress are too important to follow them.”

This newly minted case against the Obama health care Act was published online in The New American on September 17, 2012, as a result of the information furnished the PLF by Sissel, a small businessman and former combat medic who wears the Bronze Star, and believes the ObamaCare law trespasses the Constitution by forcing him to buy something he neither wants nor believes he needs. He pays for his health care out of pocket.

That statement from Mr. Sissel should be read again by itself to absorb the powerful message it imparts to every law-abiding citizen of this country: 

“It’s dispiriting to see our lawmakers treat the rules set out in the Constitution with disrespect, as if they’re just suggestions, or as if members of Congress are too important to follow them.”

I rank those 33 words as among the great classics of all time concerning government quotations.  Note how they apply, not only to the crisis now in public contention, but to oh so many things evident and preeminent concerning our governing officials at all levels, including nearly all of the Executive, Legislative and Judicial Branches today. 

The PLF stated in the New American referenced above, “If the charge for not buying insurance is seen as a federal tax, then a new question must be asked,” said PLF Principal Attorney Paul J. Beard II. “When lawmakers passed the ACA, with all of its taxes, did they follow the Constitution’s procedures for revenue increases? The Supreme Court wasn’t asked and didn’t address this question in the NFIB case. The question of whether the Constitution was obeyed needs to be litigated, and PLF is determined to see this important issue all the way through the courts.” 

Via: Canada Free Press

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What If There Is NO President by January 20th

I think America should be prepared for every sort of political gymnastics conceivable come Tuesday, November 6th, 2012.

Battalions of lawyers are set to spring into action if there is a hint that Obama may lose. Planning and preparations for such an eventuality have been in progress since the early days of the Obama Administration.

Tying the election up in the courts is the plan. And these people are serious!

So what happens if, indeed the US election is tied up in the judicial system come noon on January 20th, 2013?

“In cases where a President has not been chosen by January 20 or the President-elect “fails to qualify,” the Vice President-elect becomes Acting President on January 20 until there is a qualified President. If the President-elect dies before noon January 20, the Twentieth Amendment states the Vice President-elect becomes President. In cases where there is no President-elect or Vice President-elect, the Amendment also gives the Congress the authority to declare an Acting President until such time as there is a President or Vice President. At this point the Presidential Succession Act of 1947 would apply, with the office of the Presidency going to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, followed by the President pro tempore of the Senate and various Cabinet officers.” SOURCE:

OK. But how exactly is the President-elect and Vice-President-elect decided, I mean, legally decided. And here it gets cloudy and open to all sorts of legal challenges.
There are at least two schools of thought on that.

“Some commentators doubt whether an official President- and Vice President-elect exist prior to the electoral votes being counted and announced by Congress on January 6, maintaining that this is a problematic contingency lacking clear constitutional or statutory direction. Others assert that once a majority of electoral votes has been cast for one ticket, then the recipients of these votes become the President- and Vice President-elect, notwithstanding the fact that the electoral votes are not counted and certified until the following January 6.” SOURCE:

Via: Canada Free Press

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