Rep. Steve King Threatens Lawsuit To Combat The President’s Compassionate Act
No sooner had President Obama demonstrated his compassion for “Dream Act” kids today than U.S. Rep. Steve King of Iowa was buttonholing every willing listener to say he’s going to sue to block the President’s actions. Obama announced an executive order that makes it possible for young people, 30 and under, who were brought to this country when they were under the age of 16, to avoid the threat of deportation through deferrals. These kids are now able to legally work and go to school. Tea Partier King—the man who thinks we should pick our immigrants like we pick our hunting dogs, using a “pick of the litter” approach—is livid and thinks all Americans should be outraged at the President’s actions.
He called former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee’s radio show to say so; he gave an interview to The Des Moines Register to say so; he’s apparently going to court to say so. King calls the President’s new immigration policy ‘amnesty;’ the administration calls it temporary ‘immunity’—using discretion to protect the most innocent of illegal immigrants. King claims Obama violated his oath to uphold the Constitution, but political scientist William Howell, at the University of Chicago, says, “The boundaries of presidential power are constantly being negotiated and renegotiated…the idea that presidential power is fixed and static is a deep misnomer.” Executive orders, which have the force of law, have been used to help manage the operations of federal agencies since 1789.
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Still, King thinks he’s something of an expert on the Constitution because he brought a successful lawsuit over executive orders against then-Governor of Iowa, Tom Vilsack. Vilsack is now Obama’s Secretary of Agriculture and his wife, Christie, is running against Representative King for his Congressional seat, in hopes of becoming the first female that Iowa has ever elected to Congress.
So will King’s lawsuit advance or hinder the GOP’s standing, or even his own position, with the public? He has yet to be joined by anyone else in his threat—though that could change. And he has a history of racist, sexist, and homophobic statements against all but the most conservative elements of our society.
In support of Arizona’s anti-immigrant law, SB1070, he said, “If you can’t profile someone, you can’t use those common sense indicators that are before your very eyes” (Floor Speech, June 14, 2010); and about Planned Parenthood—the country’s foremost provider of healthcare for women—he said that the organization “is invested in promiscuity.” (Floor Speech, 3/2/11); and he was mortified by the original Presidential run by Barack Obama, saying, “When you think about the optics of a Barack Obama potentially getting elected President of the United States—I mean, what does this look like to the rest of the world?”
So how is King going to fare this time around? Have his verbal bombs helped or hindered in his battle against a female candidate? I know how I’d vote if I lived in Iowa. But—thank God—I don’t.
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