By Mitchell Evans
With the primaries just months away and congressional elections in November, Republicans have begun their push for momentum.
In an effort to bolster momentum, on Wednesday, the Republicans in the House of Representatives passed a vote to open a lawsuit to sue President Obama for, among other things, his alleged misuse of power, namely on the Affordable Care Act.
To understand this political stunt, one must realize the token nature of this lawsuit. It’s not a lawsuit that is going to be able to that will make any money for the government and will likely cost taxpayers millions of dollars in the process.The purpose of this lawsuit is indubitably to keep Republican and independent voters believing that there is a push to make progress and keep the branches of the government within their powers.
The final vote was 225 to 201 with five Republicans voting against the suit and zero Democrats voting for it. The political implications of this suit may be negligible and may actually work against the Republicans if the process is dragged out. Many political scientists believe that this may be a lawsuit that foreshadows a possible impeachment trial. If the impeachment trial does occur, many political analysts believe the implications of that trial would cost the Republicans the Senate in November and the presidency in 2016. All in all, the lawsuit may prove to be irrelevant because the purpose of the suit to force the courts to enforce a law that the House itself has voted against dozens of times.
Another possible outcome of this lawsuit is opening the door for a debate on the constitutionality of executive orders, which, has been a topic kicked around for years. If this does become a topic where the supreme court gets involved, we could see real change and a set of bylaws that a president would have to adhere to when issuing executive orders.
Ultimately, this seemingly frivolous lawsuit may point to some exciting legislation and political action in the months to come. With the House or Representatives on the brink of taking a five week summer recess, the timing of this lawsuit will be a major topic of discussion over the break and has some interesting implications for the remainder of the year.