Senior Democrat Robert Byrd States Obama’s Czars Are Unconstitutional
It’s about time somebody on the left sobered up from all the spiked kool aid - and it just so happens that it is the senior Democrat from West Virginia, Robert Byrd. I’m sure the progressives in the House and Senate will just blow it off as him being either senile or a former member of the KKK.
My guess is that the old timer, like many of them, aren’t too keen on the CHANGE aspect of Obama’s presidency.
This has become too much for the longest-serving senator in U.S. history to stomach. Democratic Senator Robert Byrd is the president pro tempore of the U.S. Senate. Even though Senate rules vest most powers in the Senate majority leader, the president pro tempore is a constitutional officer, and third in line to the U.S. presidency (after the vice president and the Speaker of the House). This office is held by a Democrat, who has been serving in the Senate since before Barack Obama was even born.
Senator Byrd wrote a letter to President Obama in February, criticizing the president’s strategy of creating czars to manage important areas of national policy. Senator Byrd said that these appointments violate both the constitutional system of checks and balances and the constitutional separation of powers, and is a clear attempt to evade congressional oversight. (Didn’t this White House promise unprecedented transparency?)
And Senator Byrd is exactly correct. The Constitution commands that government officers with significant authority (called “principal officers”) are nominated by the president but then are subject to a confirmation vote by the U.S. Senate. And principal officers include not only cabinet-level department heads, but go five levels deep in executive appointments, to include assistant secretaries and deputy undersecretaries.
It’s time to do more than write letters to the President. It’s time to stand up and let our voices be heard, whether it’s in peaceful protest, or taking it to the media one step at a time. The more we speak out the harder it is to ignore.
I’m still waiting for enough Congress-critters to call out Obama on all the other unconstitutional actions he has taken since January… Crickets*
This whole Czar things has bugged me for while, since before Obama. But now thanks to BO we what 20 czara. I mean really! Do we need a czar for everything now. It’s kinda like BO and his administration doesn’t even want to follow the Constitution. HHmmm Wait a minute. NO you don’t think, do you?
I also meant to ask, what do you folks suggest we can do about it? Do you think there is a way to file a suit against the BO administration to declare the apointment of czars unconstitutional?