To many observers of politics or the law, this might seem to be a strange brew indeed — the “odd couple” pairing of Republican Speaker John Boehner with liberal law professor Jonathan Turley in the House’s ObamaCare lawsuit against the president for whom Turley has said he voted.
Confused? Let’s check the facts.
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House Speaker John Boehner has hired prominent constitutional scholar Jonathan Turley to lead the legal team in going after President Obama in court on behalf of the House of Representatives.
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As the Washington Examiner explains, Turley will represent the House in its lawsuit against Obama’s unilateral, and potentially unconstitutional, move to delay implementation of a key Obamacare provision requiring large firms to offer healthcare coverage to their employees.
“Professor Turley is a renowned legal scholar who agrees that President Obama has clearly overstepped his Constitutional authority. He is a natural choice to handle this lawsuit,” Boehner spokesman Michael Steel said.
“Boehner…has not ruled out expanding the lawsuit to include a challenge to Obama’s promised executive order to legalize millions of undocumented immigrants. For now, however, the lawsuit remains focused on Obamacare.”
Considering Turley’s recent criticism of what he views as the dangerous overreach of a power-hungry president — criticism expressed in testimony before Congress — his involvement with the House suit against Obama shouldn’t be that much of a surprise.
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A self-described liberal who says he voted for Obama and even supports nationalized health care, the George Washington University Law School Professor nonetheless believes the president has often exceeded his authority.
Via huffingtonpost.com, we learn that Turley posted why he took on the current case against the president whom he helped to elect on his blog:
“Unilateral, unchecked Executive action is precisely the danger that the Framers sought to avoid in our constitutional system. This case represents a long-overdue effort by Congress to resolve fundamental Separation of Powers issues.
“In that sense, it has more to do with constitutional law than health care law.”
Notably, in the same Huffington Post article, liberal angst over Turley’s new alignment with Boehner and the GOP House is on full display:
“Democrats quickly criticized the hire on Tuesday, noting Turley’s many appearances on Fox News, where he frequently criticizes the administration on health care and immigration reform.
“‘Even for $500-per-hour in taxpayer dollars, Speaker [John] Boehner has had to scour Washington to find a lawyer willing to file this meritless lawsuit against the President,’ said Drew Hammill, spokesman for House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).
“‘Now, he’s hired a TV personality for this latest episode of his distraction and dysfunction.'”
Of course, liberal Democrats and their supporters in the media were more than happy to feature and fawn over Jonathan Turley in numerous appearances on MSNBC when his criticisms aligned with theirs.
Lately, though, as noted on wikipedia.org:
“…Turley has a strong libertarian streak and sometimes infuriates the left with a contrarian position.[10] For instance, he has said, “It is hard to read the Second Amendment and not honestly conclude that the Framers intended gun ownership to be an individual right.”