Can You Sue The President????

[privateinvestor]

Maybe our resident attorneys, or constitutional scholars can weigh in on this issue??






Rep. Dennis Kucinich and nine other
House members filed a lawsuit
Wednesday against President Obama. The
president, they say, is violating the 1973
War Powers Resolution by continuing U.S.
military operations in Libya without
congressional authorization. Can anyone
sue the president?



www.slate.com/id/2297104/

[BeenThere...DoneThat...]

...well, it is a litigious society nowadays... we can at least try and gum up the works for awhile... ;D

[billisonboard]

Impeachment and trial is the process in which the legislative branch should handle disputes with the chief executive. Extreme? Yes, but if the president has truly broken the law it is what is necessary.

[privateinvestor]

The Libya lawsuit probably won't go far.
Historically, the courts have been
reluctant to grant members of Congress
standing in suits against the executive
branch, on the basis of the separation of
powers. Accordingly, in their court filing,
Kucinich and company "acknowledge
that standing of members has been
curtailed in prior judicial opinions," but
ask for an exception. In a similar case,
then-Rep. Tom Campbell and 16 other
members of Congress sued President



www.slate.com/id/2297104/
Clinton in 1999 for violating the War
Powers Resolution with respect to the
war in Kosovo. A U.S. Court of Appeals
dismissed the case for lack of standing,
and the Supreme Court denied the
plaintiffs' petition for certiorari.

[marshabar1]

I'm for anything that distracts the President Oblunder from his clumsy attempt to fundamentally transform the U.S. into Germany.

[privateinvestor]

Not for what he does as chief executive. The 1982 Supreme Court decision Nixon v. Fitzgerald gave the president broad immunity against civil lawsuits for job-related actions. Here's the background: In 1968, A. Ernest Fitzgerald, a civilian analyst at the Air Force, warned Congress about the mounting costs of producing the Lockheed C-5A, a transport plane. Soon after, President Nixon ordered Fitzgerald dismissed, and Fitzgerald sued. Ultimately, a 5-4 split Court found in favor of Nixon, holding that the president "is entitled to absolute immunity from damages liability predicated on his official acts." The theory goes that subjecting the president, who routinely makes decisions that alter the fortunes of millions of citizens, to such lawsuits would cripple his ability to preside effectively and distract him from the job.

The court made a key distinction between presidential actions and personal ones, though, in its 1997 decision Clinton v. Jones. In 1994, Paula Jones sued President Clinton for allegedly sexually harassing her in 1991, while she was an Arkansas state employee and before Clinton won the presidential election. Clinton's lawyers argued that presidential immunity extended to unofficial acts, and that the trial should be postponed until Clinton left office. The court decided against Clinton, who ultimately paid Jones $850,000 to settle the suit. A somewhat similar lawsuit was brought against John F. Kennedy during his presidency. In 1962, Kennedy settled out of court with Mississippi State Sen. Hugh Lee Bailey, aka "the Donkey-Riding Senator," for injuries Bailey sustained in a 1960 traffic accident (involving Kennedy's driver but not Kennedy himself) that left the state senator unable to ride a donkey. Bailey had sought $250,000; Kennedy paid $17,500.


www.slate.com/id/2297104/

[Deleted]

If they can derail him with lawsuits like they did Sarah Palin in Alaska I'm all for it. Especially since MY state is having to deal with being SUED by the feds for trying to enforce THEIR laws. Go for it. Bring him down Palin style..