{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://web.archive.org/web/20140923132427/http://brooks.house.gov/index.cfm?sectionid=25&itemid=1087", "Brooks: President Violates Constitution's Separation of Powers Clause", "2013-11-22", "2013", "2013-11", "Republican", "House", "AL", "Mo Brooks", "B001274", "web.archive.org", null, null, "legacy", "Washington, D.C. - President Obama has repeatedly rewritten the Affordable Care Act by \"executive decree\" without constitutional authority to do so.\u00a0 In response, Congressman\u00a0Mo Brooks (AL-05) has co-signed House Resolution 425 expressing congressional disapproval of President Obama\u2019s violation of Article II, Section 3 of the Constitution to \u201ctake Care that the Laws be faithfully executed\u201d (the \"Take Care Clause\").\n\n\tBrooks stated, \"The notion that a president can unilaterally alter duly-enacted legislation by executive fiat is unconscionable and violates more than two centuries of established constitutional law.\u00a0 America's Founding Fathers established a system of separation of powers and checks and balances because they feared dictatorial power resting in the hands of one or few persons.\u00a0 History has proven those fears justified, as time after time around the world, power resting in the hands of one or few has been abused, thus causing loss of civil liberties among the general populace, civil strife,\u00a0and war.\"\n\n\tBrooks continued, \"President Obama\u2019s amending federal statutes by executive fiat is a direct attack on the rule of law and a Constitution that has served America so well for so long.\u00a0 In short, President Obama's executive power overreach is unparalleled in American history and shows a blatant disregard for basic constitutional principles.\"\n\n\tBrooks added, \"The Constitution empowers\u00a0Congress, the American people\u2019s most direct representatives, to enact laws (subject to presidential signature or veto).\u00a0 The President has a duty\u00a0under the Constitution's \"Take Care Clause\" to obey and enforce laws properly enacted.\u00a0 Given President Obama's power overreach, it is Congress's duty to defend the Constitution.\"\n\n\tBrooks concluded, \"For more than two centuries, Senate filibuster powers forced presidents to nominate centrist, unbiased judges to interpret laws and the Constitution.\u00a0 Yesterday, Senator Harry Reid and the Democrat majority destroyed minority rights, thus empowering presidents to nominate extremist judges who can, because of partisanship, preconceived bias,\u00a0or other extremist views, disregard the Constitution and established law.\u00a0 The net result:\u00a0 there is now nothing any Senate minority can do to stop President Obama from nominating federal judges whose sole function is to undermine the\u00a0Constitution\u00a0and ratify presidential powers unrivaled in American history.\u00a0 Yesterday the Senate stripped Lady Justice of her blindfold and dangerously tipped the scales of justice out of balance.\"\n\n\t\u00a0\n\n\tThis resolution:\n \n\t\n\t\tDisapproves of the President\u2019s failure to \u201ctake Care that the Laws be faithfully executed\u201d as required by the Constitution;\n\t\n\t\tDisapproves of the President's usurpation of the legislative power of Congress through the rewriting of key provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act; and\n\t\n\t\tReaffirms that the preservation of the Constitution\u2019s separation of powers is essential for the protection of individual liberty and the maintenance of the rule of law.\n \n\n\t*Click here to read H.Res. 425.\n\n\t###", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://web.archive.org/web/20140923132427/http://brooks.house.gov/index.cfm?sectionid=25&itemid=1087"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.4240520540624857, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}