Who Makes The Law?

President Obama will appear on your television this evening to announce changes he is making by Executive Order to the immigration laws that determine who is and who is not a legal immigrant to the United States.  President Obama and his advisers believe that the president has the authority to make or change laws, and to select which federal laws his administration will enforce.

Many Americans, including a few congressional democrats and all republicans believe that the president does not have the constitutional authority to make laws.  That authority, they believe, was enumerated in the constitution for Congress.  President Obama also believes that a president can unilaterally change existing laws by issuing executive orders, and that a president can selectively choose which laws to enforce.  In the current instance, President Obama has chosen to not enforce certain immigration laws.

What do you think?

And for the purpose of this discussion, "Bush did it" is not an argument.  If you use that argument, and you opposed what Bush did, then you should automatically oppose what Obama will be doing tonight, so that argument becomes circular.

What does the Constitution say?

Article 1 of the Constitution provides:

All legislative powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and a House of Representatives."

 The enumerated powers are a list of items found in Article 1, Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution that set forth the authoritative capacity of Congress.  They include:

To establish a uniform Rule of Naturalization.....

To make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the foregoing powers, and all other powers vested by this constitution in the government of the United States, or in any Department or Officer thereof. 

The Necessary and Proper Clause is as follows:

The Congress shall have Power ... To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers, and all other Powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any Department or Officer thereof. 

Article Two describes the office of the President of the United States, and includes:

The Recommendation Clause: The president has the power and duty to recommend to Congress's consideration such measures which the president deems as "necessary and expedient".

The president sees that the laws are faithfully executed.

Does the President have the authority to unilaterally choose to not enforce immigration laws now on the books;  to change those laws and, and to creat new laws by Executive Order?

Does the Constitution Matter?

It went like this:

A pro-gun hot-head posting comments to a CNN article proclaimed that he’d taken an oath to uphold the Constitution long ago and had every intention of putting himself on the line to do so now. The “reasonable” not-against-the-second honest-trust-me commenter said:

What if the Constitution changes?

I answered:

 “I think that when a contract is altered that it's a new contract. The one you swore to uphold is the one you swore to uphold. If it's a different Constitution, you'd have to swear over again to the new Constitution.”

 Apparently this is absurd.