If President Obama decides to save the world economy

[jaxx]

If President Obama decides to save the world economy by ignoring the debt ceiling, it’s likely that no one can stop him.
http://thinkprogress.org/progress-report...ess-report

Followed the link and it went here:

June 1st, 2011
The Debt Ceiling and the 14th Amendment: Everybody Wins!
by Jonathan Zasloff

Some observers, including Garrett Epps, who is a legal scholar, and Bruce Bartlett, who is not, have argued that Section 4 of the 14th Amendment makes the debt ceiling invalid. That Section reads, in relevant part:

The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law…shall not be questioned.

That’s it, at least for the relevant parts. The only Supreme Court case law on it concerned whether government could renege on debts it made (no), and thus whether it applies to non-Civil War debts (yes).

So what’s the argument here? Recall that if there a conflict between statutes, the standard method of resolution is the “last-in-time” rule, i.e. whichever statute was passed more recently wins. The argument is that if Congress approves appropriations after the enactment of a debt ceiling, then it is unconstitutional to refuse to spend money for those appropriations. And the Treasury can’t issue T-bills and then refuse to make good on them. Those are decent arguments, although hardly sure-fire winners. The weakest link in the chain is entitlements, in other words, Medicare and Social Security. Congress enacted those before it enacted the debt ceiling (2006 IIRC), so those might not fall under this interpretation. As I have argued previously, whatever the merits of the claim, it may be that the only body with the authority to challenge a President making the claim would be a Congressional joint resolution, which would be blocked by Senate Democrats.

http://www.samefacts.com/2011/06/politic...body-wins/

If this is right it says the debt ceiling isn't constitutional and the President can blow right on past it and do what needs to be done. It's interesting to read and something I never heard of before. Some of the comments are informative too.

[azmouse]

I'd be willing to bet that Pres Obama, being a Constitutional scholar, knows about this. It may explain why he isn't taking an active role right now in the negotiations.

[Cha]

(06-24-2011 07:49 PM)azmouse Wrote:  I'd be willing to bet that Pres Obama, being a Constitutional scholar, knows about this. It may explain why he isn't taking an active role right now in the negotiations.

President Obama is going to be taking an active role..real soon.

>snip<

A day after debt-reduction talks led by Vice President Biden appeared to have broken down, the White House announced that President Obama would directly intervene in the negotiations, beginning meetings with Biden and key lawmakers next week.

Obama and Biden will start by meeting separately with Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Monday.

>more<
http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/e...ml?hpid=z1

[jaxx]

Can you see the heads exploding if this were to happen?

[Cha]

Super interesting..thanks, jaxx. Hope they don't screw up SS and Medicare..you know the republicons want to.

[sandnsea]

Social Security and Medicare are paid for with payroll contributions. There isn't any reason, whatsoever, that the benefits shouldn't continue to be paid.

I don't see how anything can trump the Constitution. If it says debts must be paid, then that's the end of it right there, seems to me.

[nofurylike]

fascinating!!
thank you for posting that imformation, jaxx!

[Treestar]

Interesting legal issue. The ceiling statute was not such a great idea - all it did was create a potential problem.