President Obama, the EPA and Liberal Principles versus Executive Power
This is opposition and debate minus the vitriol of right wing politics and the politics of personal destruction.
WASHINGTON — President Obama’s most far-reaching regulation to slow climate change will have its first day in court on Thursday, the beginning of what is expected to be a multiyear legal battle...
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Among the lawyers arguing on behalf of the coal companies is Laurence H. Tribe, a renowned Harvard scholar of constitutional law, who was also a mentor to Mr. Obama when he attended law school. Republicans who opposed the rule have cheered Mr. Tribe’s role in the case.
Legal experts say it is also possible that the judges could throw the case out, since the rule has only been proposed and thus contains language that could change when released in the final form.
“Is industry right that the agency lacks the authority to regulate? The challenge is extremely unusual, since the rule is proposed, and not final,” said Jody Freeman, the director of Harvard University’s environmental law program and a former senior counselor to Mr. Obama. “For a court to entertain that would go against decades and decades of precedent.”
If the court does entertain the case, it will enter into more unusual legal territory. The coal companies and the E.P.A. dispute the interpretation of ambiguously worded amendments to the Clean Air Act passed in 1990...
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/17/u...-obama-bid-to-curb-greenhouse-gases.html?_r=0
President Obama is not acting like a King, he is doing what most of our modern President have done: trying to extend the reach of executive power. --link: WASHINGTON — Laurence H. Tribe, the highly regarded liberal scholar of constitutional law, still speaks of President Obama as a proud teacher would of a star student. “He was one of the most amazing research assistants I’ve ever had,” Mr. Tribe said in a recent interview. Mr. Obama worked for him at Harvard Law School, where Mr. Tribe has taught for four decades...
Mr. Tribe dismissed the criticism and said that his brief and comments reflect his views as a constitutional scholar, not as a paid advocate for the coal company. “I’m not for sale,” he said. “I’ll say what I believe.”
“I feel very comfortable with my relationship with Peabody,” he added. “Somebody wanted my help and it happened to coincide with what I believe.”
Principles, liberal principles. They teach how one can oppose a move by the executive under Obama without attacking the President personally or demonizing him and his party and backers. Just because McConnell and others will demonize Obama in the process is not excuse to go against principles. That said there are those who believe Tribe is wrong because the rule changes are proposed and they are not in effect. Most proposed changes get rewritten during a process...
