--- title: Obama: Boehner Lawsuit a “Stunt” description: The President dismissed the Speaker’s planned legal action as a political ploy canonical: https://time.com/2933353/obama-boehner-lawsuit-stunt-gma/ author: Denver Nicks article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-06-27T13:34:12.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T08:40:04.423Z article:section: Politics og:title: Obama: Boehner Lawsuit a “Stunt” og:description: The President dismissed the Speaker’s planned legal action as a political ploy og:url: https://time.com/2933353/obama-boehner-lawsuit-stunt-gma/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt56d781eb55a6c203/6986999b06f2c1624732faf5/ap450256566177.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 5048 og:image:height: 2840 og:image:alt: Barack Obama og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Obama: Boehner Lawsuit a “Stunt” twitter:description: The President dismissed the Speaker’s planned legal action as a political ploy twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt56d781eb55a6c203/6986999b06f2c1624732faf5/ap450256566177.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Obama: Boehner's Lawsuit Is a 'Stunt' > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters.  by [Denver Nicks](https://time.com/author/denver-nicks/)  ## Denver Nicks Jun 27, 2014 1:34 PM UTC  In this Wednesday, June 25, 2014, file photo, President Barack Obama speaks at the League of Conservation Voters Capitol Dinner at the Ronald Reagan Building in Washington. In this Wednesday, June 25, 2014, file photo, President Barack Obama speaks at the League of Conservation Voters Capitol Dinner at the Ronald Reagan Building in Washington. Jacquelyn Martin—AP  by [Denver Nicks](https://time.com/author/denver-nicks/)  ## Denver Nicks Jun 27, 2014 1:34 PM UTC President Barack Obama isn’t worried about a lawsuit House Speaker John Boehner plans to bring against him over his use of executive power, Obama [said](https://gma.yahoo.com/video/obama-boehner-lawsuit-suit-stunt-114130050.html) on _Good Morning America_ Friday. “I’m not going to apologize for trying to do something while they’re doing nothing,” Obama said. “The suit is a stunt.” Boehner said Wednesday he plans to file a [federal lawsuit](http://time.com/2921512/barack-obama-john-boehner-republicans-lawsuit/http://time.com/2921512/barack-obama-john-boehner-republicans-lawsuit/) against the President over what he calls “an effort to erode the power of the legislative branch” over the last five years. “I believe the President is not faithfully executing the laws of the country and on behalf of the institution and our constitution, standing up and fighting for this is in the best long-term interest of the Congress,” the House Speaker said. Faced with a Republican-dominated Congress that has steadfastly thwarted much of his agenda, Obama has ramped up his use of executive actions to circumvent the House on matters like delaying implementation of parts of the Affordable Care Act, halting deportations of child immigrants and boosting the minimum wage and job protections for federal contractors. “What I’ve told Speaker Boehner directly is: If you’re really concerned about me taking too many executive actions, why don’t you try getting something done through Congress?” the President said. “You’re going to squawk if I try to fix some parts of it administratively that are within my authority while you’re not doing anything?” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/2933353/obama-boehner-lawsuit-stunt-gma/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/2933353/obama-boehner-lawsuit-stunt-gma/"},"headline":"Obama: Boehner's Lawsuit Is a 'Stunt'","datePublished":"2014-06-27T13:34:12.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T08:40:04.423Z","description":"The President dismissed the Speaker’s planned legal action as a political ploy","url":"https://time.com/2933353/obama-boehner-lawsuit-stunt-gma/","keywords":["Congress","Barack Obama","house","John Boehner","Lawsuit","Constitution","Speaker"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt56d781eb55a6c203/6986999b06f2c1624732faf5/ap450256566177.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Denver Nicks","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/denver-nicks/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt56d781eb55a6c203/6986999b06f2c1624732faf5/ap450256566177.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Barack Obama","caption":"Barack Obama","creditText":"Jacquelyn Martin—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/congress/","name":"Congress"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/2933353/obama-boehner-lawsuit-stunt-gma/","name":"Obama: Boehner's Lawsuit Is a 'Stunt'"}}]}] ```