Enforcing the President's Constitutional Duty to Faithfully Execute the Laws Hearing Committee on the Judiciary House of Repre
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ENFORCING THE PRESIDENT’S CONSTITUTIONAL DUTY TO FAITHFULLY EXECUTE THE LAWS HEARING BEFORE THE COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ONE HUNDRED THIRTEENTH CONGRESS SECOND SESSION FEBRUARY 26, 2014 Serial No. 113–63 Printed for the use of the Committee on the Judiciary ( Available via the World Wide Web: http://judiciary.house.gov U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 86–841 PDF WASHINGTON : 2014 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office Internet: bookstore.gpo.gov Phone: toll free (866) 512–1800; DC area (202) 512–1800 Fax: (202) 512–2104 Mail: Stop IDCC, Washington, DC 20402–0001 COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY BOB GOODLATTE, Virginia, Chairman F. JAMES SENSENBRENNER, JR., JOHN CONYERS, JR., Michigan Wisconsin JERROLD NADLER, New York HOWARD COBLE, North Carolina ROBERT C. ‘‘BOBBY’’ SCOTT, Virginia LAMAR SMITH, Texas ZOE LOFGREN, California STEVE CHABOT, Ohio SHEILA JACKSON LEE, Texas SPENCER BACHUS, Alabama STEVE COHEN, Tennessee DARRELL E. ISSA, California HENRY C. ‘‘HANK’’ JOHNSON, JR., J. RANDY FORBES, Virginia Georgia STEVE KING, Iowa PEDRO R. PIERLUISI, Puerto Rico TRENT FRANKS, Arizona JUDY CHU, California LOUIE GOHMERT, Texas TED DEUTCH, Florida JIM JORDAN, Ohio LUIS V. GUTIERREZ, Illinois TED POE, Texas KAREN BASS, California JASON CHAFFETZ, Utah CEDRIC RICHMOND, Louisiana TOM MARINO, Pennsylvania SUZAN DelBENE, Washington TREY GOWDY, South Carolina JOE GARCIA, Florida RAU´ L LABRADOR, Idaho HAKEEM JEFFRIES, New York BLAKE FARENTHOLD, Texas DAVID N. CICILLINE, Rhode Island GEORGE HOLDING, North Carolina DOUG COLLINS, Georgia RON DeSANTIS, Florida JASON T. SMITH, Missouri [Vacant] SHELLEY HUSBAND, Chief of Staff & General Counsel PERRY APELBAUM, Minority Staff Director & Chief Counsel (II) C O N T E N T S FEBRUARY 26, 2014 Page OPENING STATEMENTS The Honorable Bob Goodlatte, a Representative in Congress from the State of Virginia, and Chairman, Committee on the Judiciary ................................. 1 The Honorable John Conyers, Jr., a Representative in Congress from the State of Michigan, and Ranking Member, Committee on the Judiciary ......... 3 WITNESSES The Honorable Jim Gerlach, a Representative in Congress from the State of Pennsylvania Oral Testimony ..................................................................................................... 7 Prepared Statement ............................................................................................. 9 The Honorable H. Tom Rice, a Representative in Congress from the State of South Carolina Oral Testimony ..................................................................................................... 13 Prepared Statement ............................................................................................. 15 The Honorable Diane Black, a Representative in Congress from the State of Tennessee Oral Testimony ..................................................................................................... 18 Prepared Statement ............................................................................................. 20 The Honorable Ron DeSantis, a Representative in Congress from the State of Florida Oral Testimony ..................................................................................................... 24 Prepared Statement ............................................................................................. 26 Jonathan Turley, Shapiro Professor of Public Interest Law, George Wash- ington University Law School Oral Testimony ..................................................................................................... 30 Prepared Statement ............................................................................................. 32 Christopher H. Schroeder, Charles S. Murphy Professor of Law and Professor of Public Policy Studies, and Co-Director of the Program in Public Law, Duke University Oral Testimony ..................................................................................................... 47 Prepared Statement ............................................................................................. 49 Elizabeth Price Foley, Professor of Law, Florida International University, College of Law Oral Testimony ..................................................................................................... 61 Prepared Statement ............................................................................................. 63 LETTERS, STATEMENTS, ETC., SUBMITTED FOR THE HEARING Prepared Statement of the Honorable John Conyers, Jr., a Representative in Congress from the State of Michigan, and Ranking Member, Committee on the Judiciary ................................................................................................... 5 Material submitted by the Honorable John Conyers, Jr., a Representative in Congress from the State of Michigan, and Ranking Member, Committee on the Judiciary ................................................................................................... 99 Material submitted by the Honorable Zoe Lofgren, a Representative in Con- gress from the State of California, and Member, Committee on the Judici- ary ......................................................................................................................... 104 (III) IV Page Material submitted by the Honorable Sheila Jackson Lee, a Representative in Congress from the State of Texas, and Member, Committee on the Judiciary ............................................................................................................... 118 Material submitted by the Honorable Luis V. Gutierrez, a Representative in Congress from the State of Illinois, and Member, Committee on the Judiciary ............................................................................................................... 125 APPENDIX MATERIAL SUBMITTED FOR THE HEARING RECORD Material submitted by the Honorable John Conyers, Jr., a Representative in Congress from the State of Michigan, and Ranking Member, Committee on the Judiciary ................................................................................................... 150 ENFORCING THE PRESIDENT’S CONSTITU- TIONAL DUTY TO FAITHFULLY EXECUTE THE LAWS WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2014 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY Washington, DC. The Committee met, pursuant to call, at 10:17 a.m., in room 2141, Rayburn Office Building, the Honorable Bob Goodlatte (Chairman of the Committee) presiding. Present: Representatives Goodlatte, Coble, Smith of Texas, Chabot, Bachus, Issa, Forbes, King, Franks, Gohmert, Jordan, Poe, Marino, Gowdy, Labrador, Farenthold, Holding, Collins, DeSantis, Smith of Missouri, Conyers, Lofgren, Jackson Lee, Gutierrez, Gar- cia, and Cicilline. Staff present: (Majority) Shelley Husband, Chief of Staff & Gen- eral Counsel; Branden Ritchie, Deputy Chief of Staff & Chief Coun- sel; Allison Halataei, Majority Parliamentarian & General Counsel; Zachary Somers, Counsel; Kelsey Deterding, Clerk; (Minority) Perry Apelbaum, Staff Director & Chief Counsel; Danielle Brown, Parliamentarian; and James Park, Counsel. Mr. GOODLATTE. Good morning. [Disturbance in the hearing room.] Mr. GOODLATTE. Presently we do not have order in the hearing room. Members of the audience must behave in an orderly fashion or else they will be removed from the hearing room. Rule 11 of the House Rules provides that the Chairman of the Committee may punish breaches in order and decorum by censure and exclusion from the hearing. The Capitol police will remove the disruptive members of the audience immediately. The Capitol police will re- move the members who are causing a disturbance. Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Chairman, can I urge—thank you for yielding, Mr. Chairman. Could I say to our friends here that an unruly pres- ence in the hearing room does not aid your cause in any way, my friends. I want to share that. Mr. GOODLATTE. We welcome everyone remaining in this morn- ing’s hearing on enforcing the President’s constitutional duty to faithfully execute the laws. And I will shortly begin by recognizing myself for an opening statement, but I do want to remind the other members of the audience that you are welcome to attend this hear- ing, but you must behave in an orderly fashion, or else we will (1) 2 have to remove you from the hearing room as well. And we thank you for your cooperation in that regard. I will now recognize myself for an opening statement. Since tak- ing office, President Obama has increasingly pushed the bound- aries on executive power beyond their constitutional limits. He has repeatedly declared that rather than faithfully executing the laws passed by the legislative branch, he will refuse to take no for an- swer, and that where Congress will not act, I will. These have not been empty proclamations. From Obamacare, to welfare and education reform, to our Nation’s drug enforcement and immigration laws, President Obama has been picking and choosing which laws to enforce. But the Constitution does not con- fer upon the President the executive authority to disregard the sep- aration of powers and write or rewrite acts of Congress. It is a bed- rock principle of constitutional law that the President must faith- fully execute the laws. The President has no authority to bypass Congress and unilaterally waive, suspend, or amend the laws based on his policy preferences. President Obama’s actions have pushed executive power beyond all limits and created what has been char- acterized as an uber-presidency. The