House panel begins hearings on suit against Obama

The Rules Committee hearing highlighted bickering between Republican lawmakers and constitutional law experts. The committee is expected to vote next week on a resolution authorizing a lawsuit.

Reuters: U.S. Lawmakers, Lawyers Argue Over House Republican Plan To Sue Obama
The Republican effort to sue President Barack Obama over his use of executive powers got under way in Congress on Wednesday at a hearing where lawmakers and constitutional law experts bickered over the move in a taste of the politicking to come. The House of Representatives' Rules Committee is expected to vote next week on a resolution authorizing a lawsuit centering on Obama's delays and other changes to his signature health insurance reform law, with a floor vote before the end of July. House Speaker John Boehner is pursuing the suit to protect Congress' rights from what he calls Obama's "king-like" overreach of executive authority in making unilateral moves to advance his agenda (McGinnis, 7/16).

The New York Times: Partisanship Infuses Hearings On Health Law And Executive Power
Efforts by congressional Republicans to rein in what they say are the legislative and political excesses of the Obama administration played out in simultaneous hearings on Wednesday, further highlighting how election-year politics are overtaking business on Capitol Hill. The first hearing, by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, was quickly adjourned after the administration refused to allow testimony from David Simas, the White House political director, who had been called under a Republican subpoena to answer questions about Democratic campaign activities. The second, a debate in the House Rules Committee on the merits of a lawsuit that Speaker John A. Boehner plans to file against President Obama, exposed simmering partisan tensions as Democrats used the occasion to ridicule the speaker's move as a hollow ruse (Peters, 7/16).