[St_Thomas_Aquinas]

Congress is generally keen on finding ways to pass its duty and responsibility to others. Calling on the courts is a perennial favorite approach. And the president can just as well figure ways to duck around court orders, as he finds ways to duck around statutes.

I was listening to Levin last night, and he mentioned that he has had success in taking rogue agencies to court. As an example, he sued the EPA at the end of the Clinton regime, forcing them to refrain from destroying computerized records, in a situation analogous to the IRS scandal.

But I don't think Boehner is talking to Mark.

[Alberta's Child]

I was listening to Levin last night, and he mentioned that he has had success in taking rogue agencies to court. As an example, he sued the EPA at the end of the Clinton regime, forcing them to refrain from destroying computerized records, in a situation analogous to the IRS scandal.

The difference there is that Levin wasn't taking legal action against these rogue agencies on behalf of CONGRESS. LOL.

[Cboldt]

Taking agencies to court actually works, especially when they are operating outside of their statutory mandate. Regulatory agencies are another tool Congress uses to duck accountability. “We didn’t make the rules, we just created an agency to do that.” But the courts can and do “clarify” what powers an agency has. Not always the way we would like, e.g., Courts deciding that CO2 is a pollutant in the atmosphere, so within EPA regulatory power.