Waters Case Should Tell Us If The Supreme Court Will Rein In Obama Or Let Him Run Ramshod Over Congress

BREAKING: Federal Court Strikes DEVASTATING Blow to Barack H. Obama

The web of unconstitutional executive orders and initiatives President Barack Obama has weaved during almost seven years in the White House will take a while for the courts to unravel.

However, at least one of Obama’s signature pieces of big-government environmentalism may have just been dealt a death blow by a federal court.

The Cincinnati-based Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit issued a 2-1 stay against Obama’s Waters of the United States initiative, saying that it was “at odds” with Supreme Court precedent, according to The Hill.

The Waters of the United States plan, which wasn’t voted on by Congress, would essentially give the Environmental Protection Agency jurisdiction over any body of water larger than your bathtub. Wetlands, small ponds and even drainage ditches on private property could fall under the domain of the EPA.

“A stay allows for a more deliberate determination whether this exercise of executive power, enabled by Congress and explicated by the Supreme Court, is proper under the dictates of federal law,” the decision stated.

The court only issued a stay because it is still investigating whether it has the jurisdiction to rule on the initiative. However, the opinion made it clear the judges think the new rules are unconstitutional.

The National Federation of Independent Business, one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, applauded the court’s ruling, which expanded a stay issued by a South Dakota judge in August that only applied to 13 states.

“Small businesses everywhere this morning are breathing a sigh of relief,” Karen Harned, executive director of the federation’s legal arm, said in a statement.

“The court very properly acknowledged that the WOTUS rule has created a ‘whirlwind of confusion’ and that blocking its implementation in every state is the practicable way to resolve the deep legal question of whether it can withstand constitutional muster.”

Environmentalists, predictably, used the occasion to fear-monger.

“We strongly disagree with this irresponsible decision that lets polluters continue to put the drinking water of one in three Americans at risk,” Madeleine Foote, a lobbyist with the League of Conservation Voters, said, according to The Hill.

With scare tactics like that, I’m shocked she didn’t bring out Al Gore and his hockey-stick graph.

She also failed to note that one of the reasons the initiative was stayed was because it could only be enacted by bypassing the elected officials put into office by the same public that allegedly overwhelmingly supports her position. I’m still working on just how much sophistry is necessary to delude oneself into that line of thinking.

The circuit court has yet to issue a full ruling on whether it has jurisdiction to strike the rules down. After that ruling is issued, the case can be appealed to the Supreme Court.