This is brilliant and worth the effort. From Ryan Grimm and Samuel Haas:
By declaring the debt ceiling unconstitutional, the White House could continue to meet its financial obligations, leaving Tea Party-backed Republicans in the difficult position of arguing against the plain wording of the Constitution. Bipartisan negotiators are debating the size of the cuts, now in the trillions, that will come along with raising the debt ceiling.
Salvation could lie in the 14th Amendment:
Growing increasingly pessimistic about the prospects for a deal that would raise the debt ceiling, Democratic senators are revisiting a solution to the crisis that rests on a simple proposition: The debt ceiling itself is unconstitutional.
“The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law… shall not be questioned,” reads the 14th Amendment.
“This is an issue that’s been raised in some private debate between senators as to whether in fact we can default, or whether that provision of the Constitution can be held up as preventing default,” Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.), an attorney, told The Huffington Post Tuesday. “I don’t think, as of a couple weeks ago, when this was first raised, it was seen as a pressing option. But I’ll tell you that it’s going to get a pretty strong second look as a way of saying, ‘Is there some way to save us from ourselves?’”
I’d love to see the Democrats play the U.S. Constitution card, then watch their Tea Party adversaries twist in the hot summer wind.
However, I seriously doubt the markets would react favorably to a constitutional challenge, with keeping the Wall Street robbers calm what everyone is so freaked about in the first place.
From the article:
I figure if they’re not going to impeach President Constitutional Scholar over War Powers, they’re not going to drag his butt in front of the Senate in an effort to make sure their own big contributors don’t get the money they’re owed.
Call me crazy, but I just don’t see that happening.
Of course, I also find it unlikely that Obama will pass up an excuse to screw his own base by “surrendering” to the GOP on this. It’s just so unlike him.
Which I suppose that it’s an extremely unlikely event that requires another extremely unlikely event to occur in order for it to even be possible.
Question? Let’s say they went ahead and declared the debt limit unconsitutional; What happens then? They still have to get the money from congress, don’t they?
They need money to pay off the debt. They don’t need money to accumulate it in the first place, which is mostly what raising the debt limit does.
Sooner or later, assuming we’re still living under a constitutional government, of course, they will need to get some spending authorization from Congress to pay that debt off, but they can always borrow more money to pay off what they owe in the meantime.
As I understand it, congress has already authorized the spending; they’ve even required it. If congress doesn’t raise the debt ceiling, they’ve required the treasury to spend funds in certain ways, while simultaneously requiring them not to borrow the money that would make that possible.
I believe invoking the 14th amendment is the only way Obama will avoid a default. The tea party will freak out; there may be violence. Republicans will push for impeachment (even as they’re secretly relieved we avoid a default without them having to stand up to their base). And markets won’t react well (even if its not as bad as a default would be). A constitutional solution may be necessary, but its not a desirable outcome.
Oh I wouldn’t be wonderful if the mouse roared? Using the 14th as a big FU to the Elephants would be so out of character for Obama, but it would fire up the Donkey base. He wants to get reelected, so, maybe?
I so want the Donkeys to use the 14th as a get out of jail card. Just watching the TEA Party go apoplectic over that move would be worth the price of admission. As they used to say on the Navy ships I used to ride “Stand by for heavy rolls!”
It’s a brilliant check mate move. Pesident Obama merely has to instruct Secretary eithner to keep borrowing money to pay all the obligations as allowed by the 14th Amendment. As discussed by some Constitutional lawyers yesterday, the law allows only the Congress the right to sue the President but it requires a vote by both the House and the Senate for any law suit against the President can be filed. Dead on arrival in the Senate. The only other path would be for the House to impeach the President, again dead on arrival in the Senate.
Who cares how the markets react, the reaction of the markets to default would result in a catastrophic international economic collapse.