FROM NEWSMAX BY HENRY RESKE: 9 REPUBLICAN ATTORNEYS GENERAL ALLEGE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION VIOLATES LAW 21 TIMES

9 Republican Attorneys General Allege Obama Administration Violates Law 21 Times

Tuesday, 06 Mar 2012 01:29 PM

By Henry J. Reske

The Obama administration has used a variety of regulatory agencies, including the Environmental Protection Agency and other means, to violate the law at least 21 times, Republican attorneys general in nine states allege in a report.

The attorneys general — Tom Horne of Arizona, Pam Bondi of Florida, Sam Olens of Georgia, Bill Schuette of Michigan, Scott Pruitt of Oklahoma, Marty Jackley of South Dakota; Alan Wilson of South Carolina, Greg Abbott of Texas, and Ken Cuccinelli of Virginia — noted that the “administration makes many decisions and takes numerous actions that Republican attorneys general find politically ignorant or flawed from a policy standpoint. However, that does not make those decisions or actions illegal.

“The purpose of this report is to outline actions taken by this Administration that are violations of law. The obvious example is a federal health care overhaul, passed against the will of the majority of Americans and more importantly in violation of the Constitution, which is now being challenged by more than half of the states.”

Although the report, posted on the website of the Republican State Leadership Committee, carries little or no weight of law, it is significant because it comes from the chief legal officers of nine states.

“One of the ways in which attorneys general protect the integrity of state laws and constitutions is by carefully reviewing the actions of the federal government and responding when they break the law or overstep the bounds of the Constitution,” they wrote.

“Whether it is through the EPA, NLRB, Office of Surface Mining, FCC or other entities, the Obama Administration has aggressively used administrative agencies to implement policy objectives that cannot gain congressional approval and are outside of the law.”

Included on the list of violations are:

• The individual mandate in Obamacare that requires people to buy healthcare insurance
• Federal Communications Commission attempts to regulate the Internet
• Attempts of the Office of Surface Mining to impose regulatory requirements on coal mines in 19 states
• The National Labor Relations Board’s attempts to tell Boeing where it could base manufacturing facilities
• Attempts of the Department of Health and Human Services and the administration to order religiously affiliated organizations such as schools and hospitals to provide birth control coverage in their health plans.
• Various Justice Department moves opposing voter ID and immigration laws.

The attorneys general promised to “continue to serve as a de facto ‘task force,’ assisting when possible to defend state laws and identifying ‘best practices’ and legal arguments to fight back against the Obama Administration’s illegalities in a more cohesive and effective manner.”

And, in the political arena, they said that, as the states’ chief legal officers, “the attorneys general will make a concerted effort to educate their states’ voters on the impacts that the Obama Administration’s legal violations have on their everyday lives.”

© 2012 Newsmax. All rights reserved.