Double Agent?

A double agent is a man or woman employed by the intelligence or security forces of one nation who works clandestinely for the services of another nation. They clandestinely feed important information to their secret employer or implant erroneous situations in their own offices or both.

Double agents may also operate in the political parties of this country. A Democrat double agent employed by Republicans might be responsible for the recent vote in the U.S. House of Representatives authorizing Speaker of the House John Boehner to sue President Obama for not enforcing the law.

That has to be a plan that has Democrats clapping and slapping each other on the back in celebration of getting the Republicans to undertake such a bizarre act. Filing such a lawsuit could tip the balance in favor of Democrats in close races for both the House and Senate and thwart the hopes of Republicans to win control of the Senate.

I was head of the Army’s civil litigation office in the Pentagon for three years. Most of the litigation was in federal courts with many cases filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. That is where Speaker Boehner would sue President Obama if he decides to proceed with the litigation.

During my three years of federal litigation, I saw many bizarre claims and cases, but I do not recall any as far out as Congress suing the President.

If such a suit is filed and if I were representing the President in the proceedings, I would do everything in my power to keep the proceedings alive and well until the election in November. A formal answer would be filed to join the issues and then massive discovery would be undertaken.

Every possible gimmick to attract the news media’s attention would be initiated to hammer the Republicans with their waste of time, money, and resources on ridiculous litigation instead of addressing the serious international and domestic issues facing the nation. That publicity should give quite a boost at the polls for Democrat candidates for offices at all levels.

Then, the day after the November election results are in, I would file a motion to dismiss for lack of standing by plaintiff Boehner to proceed on such a lawsuit.

In my opinion, the motion to dismiss would be granted and the suit would be dismissed immediately. Consider, for example, the precedent that would set if the suit were allowed to proceed.

If Congress could sue the President claiming that he was not doing his job to enforce the law, then the President could sue the Congress for not doing its job to enact laws to fix problems like the immigration fiasco. If Congress and the President can sue each other, can they also sue the Supreme Court when they do not like the decisions of that Court? What about the Supreme Court then suing Congress or the President for not following its decisions? Who would hear such a suit?

Blaming a Democrat double agent for possible court proceedings by the House of Representatives against the President is a fantasy. A more reasonable excuse is that it is a sop from the House leadership to the Representatives lobbying for impeachment of the President.

Speaker Boehner knows the Democrat controlled Senate would not convict President Obama if he were impeached by the House. So to dampen the lobbying for impeachment, which might, in fact, be fueled by Democrats for its propaganda value, he is trying to mollify them with the folly of a lawsuit.

So here’s the perspective.

Any attempt to either impeach or sue the President is doomed to failure. Either alternative, however, would be an answer to Democrat prayers, as it would divert media attention from all the other problems at their feet.

Arguing over these alternatives is worse than impeaching or suing. Sniping at each other has replaced the serious business of addressing real problems. If these tactics continue, a video may emerge of fist fights on the House floor like those seen in the legislative bodies of third world countries.

Maybe Will Rogers was correct when he observed, “The U.S. is safest when Congress is in recess.”

enough

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