If Boehner Wants To Sue The President, Obama Can Sue Republicans All Across The Country

If Republicans really want to play the lawsuit game, President Obama should forget John Boehner and sue Republicans nationwide.

President Obama can’t sue John Boehner for what he has done, or more accurately what he refuses to do in the House, but the president has another much more powerful tool at his disposal. If John Boehner wants to sue President Obama as a political stunt, the White House can up the ante by taking on the Republicans on the very real issue of gerrymandering.

Attorney General Eric Holder and the Department of Justice have been very active on these issues in the past, but as Thomas Geoghegan wrote in Politico Magazine, the federal government has the standing to sue and strike at the very heart of the House Republican caused gridlock.

Geoghegan explained how the lawsuits would work:

So it’s past time for the Obama administration to rouse itself. If it does file, it should file at least four separate suits in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Wisconsin and North Carolina, to name a few, all on the same day. Make it a call to battle. And be absolutely sure to sue in my own state of Illinois, where the Democrats did the gerrymandering—just to show fairness. Set a deadline. Issue a statement ahead of time: “Though it’s already prohibited by the Constitution, I call on Congress to pass a law to make gerrymandering of the House illegal. Let’s do it as California does. It has a Citizens Redistricting Commission, selected by the state auditor. No games: Let the people elect the people to the People’s House.”

Of course the GOP will say no. Then go straight to court. There is a special federal statute for claims by the United States—use it. The claim of sovereignty—or lack of authority by the states—is just the right legal attack. Maybe under their own state constitutions, states have the power to monkey around with their own state legislative districts. That’s their business. But the Constitution gives them no such power to tip, much less rig, elections to the U.S. House. To be exact, under Article I, sections 2 and 4 of the U.S. Constitution, states have no power to draw district lines or otherwise act with the intent of favoring one class of candidates over another.

It’s what lawyers call a case of federal preemption. And just as the United States can sue to stop states that pass their own immigration laws and interfere with the exclusive federal power over immigration, so it can go after any kind of vote-tampering or attempt to influence federal elections.

Geoghegan argued that the White House would likely win in the Supreme Court because Anthony Kennedy voted against the state of Arkansas in a 1995 where they tried to term limit their members of the House of Representatives. Justice Kennedy sided with the majority in finding that state violated the Qualifications Clause of the Constitution. Theoretically, the federal government would use the same Qualifications Clause to sue Red and Blue states that are gerrymandering.

Republicans have perfected the dark political art of gerrymandering, but by filing these suits the Obama administration could begin the process of ending the gridlock and handing the House of Representatives back to the American people. If Republicans want to play the lawsuit game, the White House has an option that could put an end to do the Republican controlled do nothing House once and for all.

The gerrymandered House districts that protect Republican incumbents must be dismantled, and John Boehner’s lawsuit has opened the door to the use of a legal weapons of mass Republican incumbency protection destruction.

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Jason Easley

Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.

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Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association

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