Support First Things by turning your adblocker off or by making a  donation. Thanks!

That’s what the Amicus Brief filed by the Claremont Institute in the case United States v. Windsor is claiming.

It touches on this admittedly interesting question:

Whether the President can deprive this Court of jurisdiction to consider the constitutionality of an act of Congress by refusing to defend the act when it is challenged?

A strange situation useful perhaps to consider in certain con-law classes focused on issues like “standing”, but note well. In my essay below calling for Democrat Leaders who are Forthright Supporters of the Constitution, I said that such leaders “will shy away from acts of questionable constitutionality.” Well, that’s not Obama.

And I said that the bad So-to-Speak-Supporters of the Constitution “take . . . dubiously constitutional actions . . . that are difficult or impossible to apply a “check or balance” to, and . . . difficult or impossible to successfully challenge in court.”

Well, that is.

The Claremont brief reminds us at one point of what is at stake:

The Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group, as the duly authorized representative of the House of Representatives, also has standing to intervene as a party to defend statutes adopted by Congress, particularly when the President abrogates his duty to “take care that the laws be faithfully executed.” To hold otherwise would give the President a de facto authority to suspend the law, the very concern that the Take Care Clause was designed to protect against.

Dear Reader,

You have a decision to make: double or nothing.

For this week only, a generous supporter has offered to fully match all new and increased donations to First Things up to $60,000.

In other words, your gift of $50 unlocks $100 for First Things, your gift of $100 unlocks $200, and so on, up to a total of $120,000. But if you don’t give, nothing.

So what will it be, dear reader: double, or nothing?

Make your year-end gift go twice as far for First Things by giving now.
GIVE NOW

Comments are visible to subscribers only. Log in or subscribe to join the conversation.

Tags

Loading...

Filter First Thoughts Posts

Related Articles