Biden’s novel evictions defense: Maybe it’s illegal, but it’s worth it

Early last decade, then-President Barack Obama and Congress were in a standoff. Obama badly wanted Congress to pass long-failed comprehensive immigration reform. But allies called for him to do something himself. His repeated response: I can’t. I’m not a “king.” I’m not an “emperor.” The old constitutional law professor wanted to force Congress to do things the old-fashioned, more-robust way. But when Congress continued to stall on these issues, he did something himself anyway — twice. He deferred deportations for groups he had said he didn’t have the power to protect unilaterally.

The lessons of this apparently weren’t learned by his vice president, Joe Biden, and Biden’s new administration. Or, if they were, the lesson was apparently that it was a gambit worth repeating.

But it’s a heck of a way to do the country’s business. And Biden arguably took it even further than Obama.

Amid pressure from congressional liberals including Rep. Cori Bush (D-Mo.), who demonstrated by sleeping outside of the U.S. Capitol for four nights, the Biden administration reversed course Tuesday and moved to effectively extend a pandemic-era eviction moratorium. Just the day before, a top administration official had said they had looked hard and hadn’t found a legal avenue to do such a thing. …

What’s particularly remarkable about how this was rolled out was how Biden explained it later Tuesday. He didn’t try to say they had finally found a legal loophole for this to pass muster; he instead suggested that it was a stopgap — something they were doing so the moratorium could live on while the courts sort through the mess.

Asked about it passing legal muster, Biden said he didn’t know but conceded that “the bulk of the constitutional scholars say it’s not likely to pass constitutional muster.”

And then he added: “But at a minimum, by the time it gets litigated, it will probably give some additional time while we’re getting that $45 billion out to people who are in fact behind in the rent and don’t have the money.”

In other words: It might not be legal, but even if it’s not, we’ll get some good done in the meantime. At least Obama tried to claim he hadn’t really flip-flopped, even though he had.

In his booklet America Under Attack, Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry explains how dangerous America’s retreat from the rule of law really is. Now America’s top leaders are openly ignoring the law. He exposes how former President Barack Obama accelerated this trend:

In September of 2012, a panel of experts presented a list to the House Judiciary Committee of how President Obama is exceeding his constitutional constraints. HumanEvents.com summarized the panel’s findings this way: “As president, Barack Obama has made a habit of bypassing or ignoring constitutional limitations on his power” (Sept. 12, 2012). Here are some of the examples the panel gave: his abuse of executive power in connection with the Fast and Furious scandal; his decision to stop enforcing parts of America’s immigration law; his authorization of military action in Libya in 2011 without first consulting Congress. Some legislators are calling for legal action against the president for that last decision.

One of the panel’s main points was how in 2012, the president sidestepped the Senate and made some unilateral “recess” appointments when the Senate was not even in recess. Later a federal court ruled that this move was unconstitutional.

Sen. Mike Lee, a noted constitutional scholar in Congress, “told the committee that Obama’s abuse of power by making recess appointments while the Senate was not actually in recess was a historic first” (ibid). This had never happened before in U.S. history!

This administration is pushing past the limits of executive power all the time. The New York Times wrote in April 2012, “[I]ncreasingly in recent months, the administration has been seeking ways to act without Congress.” Even the president’s allies in the media know this is happening. But very little is being done to stop it! How many people are even paying attention?

Do you realize how deadly dangerous this trend of lawlessness is? Very few people do. But it gives profound insight into the real nature of the threat facing America today.

Read America Under Attack to understand the crucial  spiritual dimension behind this attack on law.