The lawsuit long game
by digby
My piece in Salon today talks about all the reasons John Boehner and Co might think suing the president is a good idea. There’s merit in all of them — he could be heading off impeachment talk although I can’t say he’ll necessarily succeed there. And it’s probably that they truly do want to change the constitutional system so that the judicial branch has even more power than it has already.
But I think it’s all in service of their agenda. They are very practical about getting their way whether it’s from the majority or the minority:
But there may be even more to this than simply empowering the Supreme Court (with its comparatively youthful conservative majority.) We know that the demographic changes in the electorate mean the Republicans are looking at a very difficult future in terms of national elections unless they are able to tame the radical beast they’ve created. Barring unforeseen circumstances, it is highly unlikely they will be able to win the presidency any time soon. But it’s very possible that with their gerrymandered districts they could keep the House for some time to come and the undemocratic nature of the Senate insures that it can always be up for grabs.
And all of that is despite a Democratic national majority. After all, obstructing the federal government’s ability to enact new programs and fund the ones that still exist while narrowing the executive branch’s ability to act in domestic matters is the GOP agenda. And the fact is that it can be perfectly realized as a minority party. If they can put this last step in place — having their conservative Supreme Court majority “arbitrate” on behalf of the Republicans in congress — they could be in the driver’s seat for some time to come. Whether the people like it or not.
By any means necessary …