Attorneys General Join Forces to Call Into Account Illegal Obama Administration Violations

• Posted by Valentine
  Cotton- on April 15, 2012 at 11:39am in All
  Things Washington DC

  
  

A Report on Obama Administration Violations of
Law
FROM: Attorneys General Tom Horne, Arizona; Pam Bondi,
Florida; Sam Olens, Georgia; Bill Schuette, Michigan; Scott Pruitt,
Oklahoma; Marty Jackley, South Dakota; Alan Wilson, South Carolina;
Greg Abbott, Texas; Ken Cuccinelli, Virginia
DATE: March 5, 2012

We all know that the Obama Administration is not
respecting the spirit or the letter of the Constitution. Here are
specific violations that nine Attorneys General of states are
spotlighting.

The Impact

Whether it is through the EPA, NLRB, Office of
Surface Mining, FCC or other entities, the Obama Administration has
aggressively used administrative agencies to implement policy
objectives that cannot gain congressional approval and are outside of
the law.

In Florida, a state with one of the most aggressive
and innovative water quality protection programs in the country, the
EPA chose to impose its own costly, unprecedented and unscientific
numeric nutrient criteria. The estimated impact the EPA’s rules
would impose was dramatic, including billions of dollars in
compliance costs, significant spikes in utility bills and the loss of
thousands of jobs. The Florida Attorney General’s Office sued the
EPA and two weeks ago prevailed when a federal judge in Tallahassee
threw out the costliest of the EPA’s rules, the one governing
Florida’s streams and rivers. In doing so, the judge found the
EPA’s rules were not based on sound science and that the agency had
failed to prove that its rule would prevent any harm to the
environment – in other words, the EPA was found to have violated
the law.

In South Carolina, the NLRB’s recess-appointed,
unconfirmed general counsel threatened to sue the state for
guaranteeing a secret ballot in union elections, despite 83 percent
of South Carolinians voting for an amendment for such action. When
South Carolina was joined by three other states in mounting a
vigorous defense, the NLRB backed down but turned their attention to
Boeing, a private company and corporate citizen of South Carolina,
telling the employer where they could or could not locate facilities.
Again – after a high-profile fight – the NLRB backed down in
their complaint against Boeing, but only after the company and the
union worked through an agreement.

In Arizona, voters passed a referendum requiring that
individuals registering to vote show evidence that they are citizens.
Over 90 percent of the population can satisfy this simply by writing
down a driver’s license number or naturalization number. The less
than 10 percent of those who do not have these numbers are able to
register by mailing a copy of a birth certificate, passport, Indian
registration number or similar documentation. The Obama
Administration argued against Arizona in the Ninth Circuit and a
decision is yet to be made.

In Oklahoma, the EPA illegally usurped Oklahoma’s
authority in the Clean Air Act to determine the state’s own plan
for addressing sources of emissions by imposing a federal
implementation plan. The federal plan goes beyond the authority
granted to the EPA in the Clean Air Act and will result in a $2
billion cost to install technology needed to complete the EPA plan
and a permanent increase of 15-20 percent in the cost of electricity.
The Obama Administration is fighting Oklahoma’s appeal, which was
filed in the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals.

The ongoing fight over the individual mandate and
these four state examples serve as only a representation of the more
than 21 Obama Administration violations that attorneys general are
fighting against.

Taking Action

What these nine Attorneys General have collectively
confirmed is that this Administration repeatedly shows disdain for
states, federal laws it finds inconvenient, the Constitution and the
courts.

With the release of this report, and its extensive
list of transgressions, two principles are abundantly clear:

This group of nine Attorneys General will grow and
continue to serve as a de facto “task force,” assisting when
possible to defend state laws and identifying “best practices”
and legal arguments to fight back against the Obama Administration’s
illegalities in a more cohesive and effective manner;
The next
election is critically important and as the states’ chief legal
officers, the attorneys general will make a concerted effort to
educate their states’ voters on the impacts that the Obama
Administration’s legal violations have on their every day lives.

Regardless of party, when Washington politicians fail
to adhere to the Constitution and the rule of law, state attorneys
general become the last line of defense against an overreaching
federal government.

Here are The Violations that the Nine Attorneys
General Are Accusing the Obama Administration of Violating

List of Violations

1) FCC: Regulation of the Internet in the face of a
court order from Circuit Court of Appeals for Washington D.C. stating
that the FCC does not have the power to regulate the Internet

2) PPACA: Individual Mandate; To be heard by Supreme
Court of the United States in March

3) EPA 1: GHG lawsuit; EPA’s own Inspector General
reported last September that EPA failed to comply with its own data
standards; Heard in Circuit Court of Appeals for Washington D.C. in
February

4) OSM: Attempting to impose regulatory requirements
on the 19 states with authority for exclusive regulation of their
coalmines for the first time in more than 30 years

5) NLRB: Boeing; Engaged in unprecedented behavior
as described by former Chairmen under both Presidents Bush (43) and
Clinton; behavior is best exemplified in South Carolina where the
Board tried to muzzle over 80 percent of state voters who supported a
secret ballot amendment to the South Carolina Constitution and
attempted unsuccessfully to tell an employer in the state where they
can and cannot base manufacturing facilities

6) EPA: Florida Water; EPA’s numeric nutrient
criteria pre-empted Florida standards; U.S. District Judge upheld the
state’s site-specific alternative criteria for streams and rivers

7) EPA: Texas Air; TX filed lawsuit challenging
Cross-State Air Pollution Rules; application rule to TX was
particularly dubious because state was included in the regulation at
the last minute and without an opportunity to respond to the proposed
regulation; regulation was based on a dubious claim that air
pollution from TX affected a single air-quality monitor in Granite
City, Illinois more than 500 miles and three states away from Texas

8) EPA: Oklahoma Air; EPA illegally usurped
Oklahoma’s authority in the Clean Air Act to determine the state’s
own plan for addressing sources of emissions that affect visibility,
by imposing a federal implementation plan; Federal plan goes beyond
the authority granted to the EPA in the Clean Air Act and will result
in $2 billion in cost to install technology needed to complete the
EPA plan, and a permanent increase of 15-20 percent in the cost of
electricity; Obama Administration is fighting Oklahoma’s appeal,
which was filed in the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals

9) HHS: Religious Liberty; HHS mandated religious
entities such as Catholic, Baptist and Jewish schools and churches be
required to provided medical services they find unconscionable to
their employees; President attempted to compromise with an
“accommodation” in name only that required insurance companies to
provide the services for free to the religious organization
employees; Accommodation made matters worse as many religious-base
hospitals and schools are self-insurers; Seven Attorneys General
filed suit to protect religious liberty and oppose the HHS mandate

10) DOJ: South Carolina & Voting Rights Act:
Rejecting voter ID statutes that are similar to those already
approved by the Supreme Court of the United States; DOJ ignored
section 8 of the Voting Rights Act which calls for protections
against voter fraud, and used section 5 to administratively block
measures to protect the integrity of elections passed by state
legislatures in preclearance states including South Carolina; South
Carolina voter ID law merely requires a voter to show photo
identification in order to vote or to complete an affidavit at the
pain of perjury if the voter does not have a photo ID

11) DOJ: Arizona & Voting Rights Act: Rejecting
voter ID statutes that are similar to those already approved by the
Supreme Court of the United States

12) DOJ: Arizona Immigration; In violation of 10th
Amendment, federal government to sue to prevent AZ from using
reasonable measures to discourage illegal immigration within
Arizona’s borders; Affects Arizona because state has a large
percentage, compared to other states, of illegal immigrants and need
to be able to act to reduce the number

13) DOJ: Alabama Immigration; The DOJ challenged
Alabama’s immigration reform laws after parts were “green
lighted” by a federal judge; DOJ appealed the ruling; parts of the
AL case have been struck down in various federal courts; specific
provisions of the law include collection of the immigration status of
public school students, businesses must use E-Verify, prohibition of
illegal immigrants receiving public benefits; the provision requiring
immigrants to always carry alien registration cards; allowance of
lawsuits by state citizens who do not believe public officials are
enforcing the law

14) DOJ: South Carolina Immigration; DOJ challenged
South Carolina’s immigration reform laws that are very similar to
the AZ which is scheduled to appear before the United States Supreme
Court; SC case will be heard by the 4th Circuit soon there after as
the 4th Circuit granted SC motion to extend the filing time until
after the US Supreme Court issues an Opinion in AZ

15) Congressional: “Recess” appointments to NLRB
(three) and CFPB (one)

16) EEOC: Hosanna Tabor (MI); Sought to reinstate a
minister who was discharged for her disagreement with the religious
doctrine of the church

17) DOE: Yucca Mountain; In 2009, Administration
arbitrarily broke federal law and derailed the most studied energy
project in American history when DOE announced intent to withdraw
8,000 page Yucca Mountain licensing application with prejudice; SC
and Washington State filed suit, as a result, contesting the
unconstitutional action; American people have paid more than $31
billion (including interest) through percentages of electric rate
fees towards the project and taxpayers have footed an addition $200
million in legal feeds and over $2 billion in judgments against the
DOE for breaking contracts associated with Yucca Mountain

18) DOI: Glendale Casino (AZ); Glendale is a
violation because the Federal Government is forcing a family-oriented
town, Glendale, to become another Las Vegas against its will.
Essentially, the Federal Government has granted ‘reservation
status’ to a 54-acre plot in the same town, where the Tohono
O’odham Nation plans to build a resort and casino.

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