Rslc.com-Attorneys General Join Forces to Call Into Account Illegal Obama Administration Violations

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http://rs lc .com/_blog/News/pos t/MEMO_A_Repor t_on_Obama_Adminis tration_V iolations_of_Law/ May 24, 2012

Attorneys General Join Forces to Call Into Account IllegalObama Administration Violations

MEMO: A Report on Obama Administration Violations of LawFROM: Attorneys General Tom Horne, Arizona; Pam Bondi, Florida; Sam Olens, Georgia;Bill Schuette, Michigan; Scott Pruitt, Oklahoma; Marty Jackley, South Dakota; Alan Wilson, SouthCarolina; Greg Abbott, Texas; Ken Cuccinelli, VirginiaDATE: March 5, 2012

Introduction

As chief legal officers of the states and commonwealths, attorneys general are the last line ofdefense against an increasingly overreaching federal government. Attorneys general have a duty touphold the laws of their respective states and uphold the U.S. and state constitutions.

One of the ways in which attorneys general protect the integrity of state laws and constitutions is bycarefully reviewing the actions of the federal government and responding when they break the law oroverstep the bounds of the Constitution.

Federalism is the division of authority between the federal and state governments that the FoundingFathers created to provide a check on federal power so that the federal government would notbecome destructive of the very liberty it was instituted to protect.

While some navely argue that the Constitution should evolve due to the fact that our Founderscould not have foreseen the issues faced by our country today, they forget that the Founders facedtyranny firsthand and understood it well. This led to the creation of a Constitution that relies onlimited government, precisely to protect our citizens from todays unprecedented overstepping ofthe division of authority.

The Landscape

While each Attorney General has policy disagreements with the Obama Administration, thosedisagreements are not what serve as the basis for this effort. For example, this Administrationmakes many decisions and takes numerous actions that Republican attorneys general findpolitically ignorant or flawed from a policy standpoint. However, that does not make those decisionsor actions illegal. The purpose of this report is to outline actions taken by this Administration thatare violations of law.

The obvious example is a federal health care overhaul, passed against the will of the majority ofAmericans and more importantly in violation of the Constitution, which is now being challenged bymore than half of the states.

While the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) has received the most attention, itserves as a representation of a much larger picture that demonstrates the continued disdain for theConstitution and laws shown by the Obama Administration.

Through the collective review by a committee of Attorneys General from nine of the 50 states, thegroup identified more than 21 illegal actions from this Administration and is highlighting the effectsof the federal overreach on our citizens and states.

The Impact

Whether it is through the EPA, NLRB, Office of Surface Mining, FCC or other entities, the ObamaAdministration has aggressively used administrative agencies to implement policy objectives thatcannot gain congressional approval and are outside of the law.
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In Florida, a state with one of the most aggressive and innovative water quality protection programsin the country, the EPA chose to impose its own costly, unprecedented and unscientific numericnutrient criteria. The estimated impact the EPAs rules would impose was dramatic, includingbillions of dollars in compliance costs, significant spikes in utility bills and the loss of thousands ofobs. The Florida Attorney Generals Office sued the EPA and two weeks ago prevailed when afederal judge in Tallahassee threw out the costliest of the EPAs rules, the one governing Floridasstreams and rivers. In doing so, the judge found the EPAs rules were not based on sound scienceand that the agency had failed to prove that its rule would prevent any harm to the environment in

other words, the EPA was found to have violated the law.

In South Carolina, the NLRBs recess-appointed, unconfirmed general counsel threatened to suethe state for guaranteeing a secret ballot in union elections, despite 83 percent of South Caroliniansvoting for an amendment for such action. When South Carolina was joined by three other states inmounting a vigorous defense, the NLRB backed down but turned their attention to Boeing, a privatecompany and corporate citizen of South Carolina, telling the employer where they could or could notlocate facilities. Again after a high-profile fight the NLRB backed down in their complaintagainst Boeing, but only after the company and the union worked through an agreement.

In Arizona, voters passed a referendum requiring that individuals registering to vote show evidencethat they are citizens. Over 90 percent of the population can satisfy this simply by writing down adrivers license number or naturalization number. The less than 10 percent of those who do nothave these numbers are able to register by mailing a copy of a birth certificate, passport, Indianregistration number or similar documentation. The Obama Administration argued against Arizonain the Ninth Circuit and a decision is yet to be made.

In Oklahoma, the EPA illegally usurped Oklahomas authority in the Clean Air Act to determine thestates own plan for addressing sources of emissions by imposing a federal implementation plan.The federal plan goes beyond the authority granted to the EPA in the Clean Air Act and will result ina $2 billion cost to install technology needed to complete the EPA plan and a permanent increaseof 15-20 percent in the cost of electricity. The Obama Administration is fighting Oklahomasappeal, which was filed in the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals.

The ongoing fight over the individual mandate and these four state examples serve as only arepresentation of the more than 21 Obama Administration violations that attorneys general arefighting against.

Taking Action

What these nine Attorneys General have collectively confirmed is that this Administration repeatedlyshows disdain for states, federal laws it finds inconvenient, the Constitution and the courts.

With the release of this report, and its extensive list of transgressions, two principles are abundantlyclear:

This group of nine Attorneys General will grow and continue to serve as a de facto taskforce, assisting when possible to defend state laws and identifying best practices and legalarguments to fight back against the Obama Administrations illegalities in a more cohesiveand effective manner;

The next election is critically important and as the states chief legal officers, the attorneysgeneral will make a concerted effort to educate their states voters on the impacts that theObama Administrations legal violations have on their every day lives.

Regardless of party, when Washington politicians fail to adhere to the Constitution and the rule oflaw, state attorneys general become the last line of defense against an overreaching federalgovernment.


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List of Violations

FCC: Regulation of the Internet in the face of a court order from Circuit Court of Appeals forWashington D.C. stating that the FCC does not have the power to regulate the Internet

PPACA: Individual Mandate; To be heard by Supreme Court of the United States in March

EPA 1: GHG lawsuit; EPAs own Inspector General reported last September that EPA failedto comply with its own data standards; Heard in Circuit Court of Appeals for Washington D.C.

in February

OSM: Attempting to impose regulatory requirements on the 19 states with authority forexclusive regulation of their coalmines for the first time in more than 30 years

NLRB: Boeing; Engaged in unprecedented behavior as described by former Chairmen underboth Presidents Bush (43) and Clinton; behavior is best exemplified in South Carolina wherethe Board tried to muzzle over 80 percent of state voters who supported a secret ballotamendment to the South Carolina Constitution and attempted unsuccessfully to tell anemployer in the state where they can and cannot base manufacturing facilities

EPA: Florida Water; EPAs numeric nutrient criteria pre-empted Florida standards; U.S.District Judge upheld the state's site-specific alternative criteria for streams and rivers

EPA: Texas Air; TX filed lawsuit challenging Cross-State Air Pollution Rules; application ruleto TX was particularly dubious because state was included in the regulation at the last minuteand without an opportunity to respond to the proposed regulation; regulation was based on adubious claim that air pollution from TX affected a single air-quality monitor in Granite City,Illinois more than 500 miles and three states away from Texas

EPA: Oklahoma Air; EPA i llegally usurped Oklahoma's authority in the Clean Air Act todetermine the state's own plan for addressing sources of emissions that affect visibility, byimposing a federal implementation plan; Federal plan goes beyond the authority granted to

the EPA in the Clean Air Act and will result in $2 billion in cost to install technology needed tocomplete the EPA plan, and a permanent increase of 15-20 percent in the cost of electricity;Obama Administration is fighting Oklahoma's appeal, which was filed in the 10th Circuit Courtof Appeals

HHS: Religious Liberty; HHS mandated religious entities such as Catholic, Baptist andJewish schools and churches be required to provided medical services they findunconscionable to their employees; President attempted to compromise with an"accommodation" in name only that required insurance companies to provide the services forfree to the religious organization employees; Accommodation made matters worse as manyreligious-base hospitals and schools are self-insurers; Seven Attorneys General filed suit to

protect religious liberty and oppose the HHS mandateDOJ: South Carolina & Voting Rights Act: Rejecting voter ID statutes that are similar to thosealready approved by the Supreme Court of the United States; DOJ ignored section 8 of theVoting Rights Act which calls for protections against voter fraud, and used section 5 toadministratively block measures to protect the integrity of elections passed by statelegislatures in preclearance states including South Carolina; South Carolina voter ID lawmerely requires a voter to show photo identification in order to vote or to complete an affidavitat the pain of perjury if the voter does not have a photo ID

DOJ: Arizona & Voting Rights Act: Rejecting voter ID statutes that are similar to those alreadyapproved by the Supreme Court of the United States

DOJ: Arizona Immigration; In violation of 10th Amendment, federal government to sue toprevent AZ from using reasonable measures to discourage illegal immigration within

Arizona's borders; Affects Arizona because state has a large percentage, compared to otherstates, of illegal immigrants and need to be able to act to reduce the number


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DOJ: Alabama Immigration; The DOJ challenged Alabamas immigration reform laws afterparts were green lighted by a federal judge; DOJ appealed the ruling; parts of the AL casehave been struck down in various federal courts; specific provisions of the law includecollection of the immigration status of public school students, businesses must use E-Verify,prohibition of illegal immigrants receiving public benefits; the provision requiring immigrantsto always carry alien registration cards; allowance of lawsuits by state citizens who do notbelieve public officials are enforcing the law

DOJ: South Carolina Immigration; DOJ challenged South Carolina's immigration reform lawsthat are very similar to the AZ which is scheduled to appear before the United StatesSupreme Court; SC case will be heard by the 4th Circuit soon there after as the 4th Circuitgranted SC motion to extend the filing time until after the US Supreme Court issues anOpinion in AZ

Congressional: Recess" appointments to NLRB (three) and CFPB (one)

EEOC: Hosanna Tabor (MI); Sought to reinstate a minister who was discharged for herdisagreement with the religious doctrine of the church

DOE: Yucca Mountain; In 2009, Administration arbitrarily broke federal law and derailed the

most studied energy project in American history when DOE announced intent to withdraw8,000 page Yucca Mountain licensing application with prejudice; SC and Washington Statefiled suit, as a result, contesting the unconstitutional action; American people have paid morethan $31 billion (including interest) through percentages of electric rate fees towards theproject and taxpayers have footed an addition $200 million in legal feeds and over $2 billion in

judgments against the DOE for breaking contracts associated with Yucca Mountain

1. DOI: Glendale Casino (AZ); Glendale is a violation because the Federal Government isforcing a family-oriented town, Glendale, to become another Las Vegas against its will.Essentially, the Federal Government has granted reservation status to a 54-acre plot inthe same town, where the Tohono Oodham Nation plans to build a resort and casino.

Documents

Rslc.com-Attorneys General Join Forces to Call Into Account Illegal Obama Administration Violations