Anyone have other sources for this?

[Waya]

Dunno if it's true...haven't heard anything about this.


BREAKING: House Dems file lawsuit against illegal legislation


Developing story coming from the top House Democrats. They are filing a lawsuit against Bush and his administration to prevent implementation of the "Budget Deficit Act of 2005." That's the legislation which Bush signed even though the House and Senate passed different versions (basically because the Republican illegally changed the legislation).

This is pretty big news. The lead plaintiff is John Conyers, ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee. He is joined by 10 other ranking members of the other House Committees: Dingell, Rangel, Miller, Oberstar, Frank, Peterson, Thompson, Stark, Brown and Slaughter.

They are seeking to enjoin the budget act because the constitutional process -- you know, from "How a Bill becomes a Law" -- wasn't followed. For all those strict constructionists, here's the actual language:

Every Bill which shall have passed the House of Representatives and the Senate, shall, before it become a Law, be presented to the President of the United States....

http://americablog.blogspot.com/2006/04/breaking-house-dems-file-lawsuit.html

[displacedtexan]

1. John Conyers' Diary at Daily Kos (eom)

[babylonsister]

2. Here:

"I PLAN TO FILE SUIT TOMORROW AGAINST THE PRESIDENT": Rep. John Conyers Updated at 3:56 PM

Edited on Thu Apr-27-06 03:11 PM by kpete
Taking the President to Court
by Congressman John Conyers
Thu Apr 27, 2006 at 12:46:24 PM PDT

As some of you may be aware, according to the President and Congressional Republicans, a bill does not have to pass both the Senate and the House to become a law. Forget your sixth grade civics lesson, forget the book they give you when you visit Congress - "How Our Laws Are Made," and forget Schoolhouse Rock. These are checks and balances, Republican-style.

As the Washington Post reported last month, as the Republican budget bill struggled to make its way through Congress at the end of last year and beginning of this year (the bill cuts critical programs such as student loans and Medicaid funding), the House and Senate passed different versions of it. House Republicans did not want to make Republicans in marginal districts vote on the bill again, so they simply certified that the Senate bill was the same as the House bill and sent it to the President. The President, despite warnings that the bill did not represent the consensus of the House and Senate, simply shrugged and signed the bill anyway. Now, the Administration is implementing it as though it was the law of the land.
.................
After consulting with some of the foremost constitutional experts in the nation, I determined that one group of people are injured by the entire bill: Members of the House. We were deprived of our right to vote on a bill that is now being treated as the law of the land.

So, I am going to court. With many of my Democratic Colleagues (list appended at the bottom of this diary), I plan to file suit tomorrow in federal district court in Detroit against the President, members of the Cabinet and other federal officers seeking to have a simple truth confirmed: a bill not passed by the House and Senate is not a law, even if the President signs it. As such, the Budget bill cannot be treated as the law of the land.


more at:
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/4/27/154625/574

[Syrinx]

3. look on Greatest page for a post about John Conyers n/t

[shraby]

4. Taking the President to Court by John Conyers

<http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/4/27/154625/574>

[NJ Democrats]

5. Raw Story

http://www.rawstory.com/news/2006/Congressmen_sue_to_block_implementation_of_0427.html

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

6. Rawstory's Got It!

http://www.rawstory.com/news/2006/Congressmen_sue_to_block_implementation_of_0427.html

Conyers, as always, fuckin rocks.

[neoblues]

7. This Scares me...

I mean, this really is a serious issue--a clear cut case of an unconstitutional action on the part of the Senate and the President... a sort of conspiracy to illegally implement a royal edict with the force of law. A serious test is presenting itself--will the third branch, the unelected, majority Republican appointed branch do it's job and uphold the Constitution? If they fail; the implications--being that there will be formal, documented evidence... would be proof positive of all three branches of the government intentionally ignoring the Constitution (as well as history and precedence).

Perhaps it's not a dramatic case, but if they are willing to and can get away with failing to uphold the Constitition in this smaller matter... and we already know they both consider the Constitution as an obsolete, obstacle and have gone around it in other less obvious ways... does this represent an escalation? Escalation of what? The deconstruction of our Constitution... They've already tread upon the Bill of Rights with the so-called "Patriot Act". They've show their contempt for it by proposing to discriminate against non-heterosexuals by means of a Constitutional Amendment--which all but trivializes it. Where will it all stop.

These people scarcely deserve to be called Americans. By their lack of virtue, widespread corruption, overpowering greed and willingness to forsake their personal duty to the country by engaging in factional partisan politics (in the dirtiest possible ways) as well as their apparent outright desire to sell their votes to the highest bidders... they've shown themselves to be unworthy. However, it's worse (if that's possible) than that--they actually suffer from such sincere egotism/pride as to believe they are not only as wise as our founding fathers, but actually consider them with disdain. Our leader's ignorance is surpassed only by their stupidity (and pride, and greed, and moral turpitude in general).

Somehow we have to find a way to elect well educated, thoughtful people of true integrity to national office. Campaign finance reform and electoral reform are both becoming critically important. We got along okay for a long time, despite the low quality "politicians" dominating our leadership--so long as they had some sense that they were limited to historically mandated behaviors... The unwritten rules for governing that were long accepted and understood are no longer respected (or accepted, or understood). Bush changed all that--with his deliberate ignorance of those unwritten rules, his overreaching efforts to expand the power of the Executive, his naked lust for power... His party fully complicit and taking him as role model has led Congress--and even the Supreme Court to reinterpret their roles and boundaries in frighteningly foolish ways. While simultaneously, the single party majority power position has allowed them to ignore any good sense as well as to deliberately ignore/allow the Bush excesses. Of course, the people remain uninformed of all these exceptional and disturbing changes since the media is allied with the political party behind these un-Democratic, un-American activities. Besides, the government can and does lay claim to total secrecy regarding all their activities--secrecy that would not be needed if they weren't doing things that they know "the People" would object to.

Ignorance is no excuse. Neither on their part--for their Republic destroying selfish activities, nor on our part. It is our responsibility to be informed--if we have to rise up and remake our media ourselves or if we have to engage in unprecedented public demonstrations demanding our government come clean and stop it's misbehavior. We are responsible to ourselves--though most of us have forgotten this... Excuses such as "but the media was supposed to keep us informed..." or "but our government hid it's actions from us..." fall flat. As soon as it became obvious our media wasn't doing it's job, as soon as it became obvious that our government was marking every mundane fact "Secret", it was obvious we had a problem--a problem that only we can fix (and a problem that matters only to us (and all free people, or those seeking to be free, everywhere)).

What's it going to take? When will it become apparent that our very form of government is under attack from within; and that if we don't fix it, nobody else will. I suppose the more appropriate question is "when will the suffering get bad enough that we finally realize our situation?".

It's great that more and more people are realizing what liars, cheats and criminals we have as national leaders... but most still don't realize just how bad they really are and even fewer are willing to entertain the reality of just how critically close to losing our "Democracy" we already are. Well, when it's plain that we have no remaining freedoms; perhaps we'll wake. Then again, the powers that be may only oppress us to the point we can't be recognized as a "free" people, but not quite to the point that we're suffering so much we'll finally do something about it. Our children, will be growing up without many freedoms and yet totally immersed in the myriad entertainments and distractions as well as the constantly increasing demands put upon us just to survive (think about it, how much can one think clearly of our political collapse when one has to make enough money with stagnant wages to pay $40-$60 bucks for a tank of gas; a "survival distraction"). With such a background, the current mess will seem "normal" to them--they won't even associate it with bad government in collusion with mega-corporations. They'll be ripe for even greater oppression without reaction.

Who's behind it? What exactly is "it"? "It" is the hidden "class war". Who's behind it... those of great wealth (not all of them, but most of those in positions to decide what's done with their wealth--the women and children are protected from the family crime business). The other word for who they are is the "Aristocracy". Though we hardly hear the word, it's the real answer. It's probably not the traditional face of Aristocracy--as it's functional elements are being expressed through corporations, but it's the wealthy who are profiting here. It's those "impudent upstarts", the "middle class" who are the big losers here (while those in poverty are enjoying significantly increased companionship at the same time as they receive even less support and opportunity).

So, the government is just becoming more and more blatant about it... now they're openly ignoring the Constitution (referring to the Budget Deficit Act of 2005). Remember, for those of us who are but average citizens, all we have is the Constitution--the rule of law. If those who enjoy both wealth, power and privilege--who also control our government have created an environment such that only relatively wealthy types can become actors in our government (wealthy, but really hoping for even greater wealth), have finally managed to be able to ignore the law and even the Constitution with impugnity... if they control the very law makers... and laws only apply to the lower classes, the edge of the cliff is actually already behind us. Like Wyle Coyote, we're in mid-air, our legs churning--and just about to realize that gravity will soon make it's existence known.

Hopefully, we have something better than an ACME parachute available, but the bottom is a long ways down. Actually, if we can organize and unite as a people... we do have a safety rope attached. We just have to use it before we fallen beyond the length of the rope. We'd better grab hold soon.