Boehner Explains Why He Wants to Sue Obama

House Speaker John Boehner says President Obama has “not faithfully executed the laws” of the Constitution “when it comes to a range of issues, including his health care law, energy regulations, foreign policy and education” in a defense of the lawsuit he plans to bring against the president.

The Ohio Republican, writing in a CNN editorial, says Obama has “circumvented the American people and their elected representatives through executive action, changing and creating his own laws, and excusing himself from enforcing statutes he is sworn to uphold — at times even boasting about his willingness to do it.”

Boehner announced his plans for the lawsuit in June. This month he will introduce a bill to the House that would grant the House General Counsel and the Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group the authority to sue the president.

Obama has previously called the lawsuit “a stunt,” saying that he was “not going to apologize for trying to do something while [Congress is] doing nothing” during an appearance on Good Morning America.

White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest has said he thinks the lawsuit is “the kind of step that most Americans wouldn’t support” and that Obama’s actions have been consistent with his presidential authority, according to CBS.

“The legislative branch has an obligation to defend the rights and responsibilities of the American people, and America’s constitutional balance of powers,” Boehner writes, “before it is too late.”

[CNN]