A federal judge in Pennsylvania ruled on Tuesday that portions of President Barack Obama’s presidential action on immigration were unconstitutional as “Congress's lawmaking power is not subject to presidential supervision or control” and that “congressional inaction does not endow legislative power with the executive.”
However, if you tuned into any of the Tuesday evening newscasts on the major broadcast networks, you would not have found any mention of the decision. [MP3 audio here; Video below]
Over on the Fox News Channel (FNC), Special Report with Bret Baier led off on Tuesday evening with the story and a full report from FNC correspondent Shannon Bream. In a segment lasting just over two minutes, Bream summarized how the Judge Arthur Schwab came to his ruling, as well as including response from the Justice Department (which, not surprisingly, blasted the decision).
Bream reported how Schwab found that “the President's executive actions regarding immigration exceeded his constitutional authority” and included in his decision excerpts from “the President's own speeches and remarks on that issue.”
The decision by Schwab on the President’s executive action came as he was about to rule on the fate of a illegal immigrant who was brought up on DUI charges earlier this year after sneaking back into the country illegally following a 2005 deportation. Bream noted:
Prior to sentencing, the judge asked the parties to provide their legal opinions on how the President's recent immigration announcements could possibly impact the judge's sentencing decision and that led to today’s ruling.
Further, she concluded that:
Schwab added that although presidents do enjoy prosecutorial discretion on a case-by-case basis, President Obama's sweeping pronouncement involving entire classes of persons in the U.S. illegally went, in Schwab's opinion, far beyond what is legally permissible.
Instead of covering this ruling on such an important and contentious issue, the “big three” of ABC, CBS, and NBC each devoted a news brief to the top five most searched topics in 2014 on the search engine Google.
In addition, NBC Nightly News highlighted the eight items that are being cut from the menu at McDonald’s next year and played a clip from the film Pulp Fiction that mentioned McDonald’s Quarter Pounder with Cheese.
The full transcript of the segment that aired on FNC’s Special Report with Bret Baier on December 16 is transcribed below.
FNC’s Special Report with Bret Baier
December 16, 2014
6:00 p.m. Eastern[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Deadly Pakistan Attack; Obama Exec Action Ruling]
BRET BAIER: First, a federal court in Pennsylvania has declared parts of President Obama's executive action on immigration unconstitutional. Let's go straight to correspondent Shannon Bream for what happened and what it means. Shannon?
SHANNON BREAM: Well, Bret, in the first ruling of its kind, a federal judge in Pennsylvania, said today, the President's executive actions regarding immigration exceeded his constitutional authority and cited the President's own speeches and remarks on that issue. Judge Arthur Schwab writes, quote, “President Obama contended that although legislation is the most appropriate course of action to solve the immigration debate, his executive action was necessary because of Congress's failure to pass legislation acceptable to him in this regard,” adding, quote, “Congress's law making power is not subject to presidential supervision or control, perceived or actual congressional inaction does not endow legislative power with the executive.” Judge Schwab went on to hold that the President's actions on immigration crossed the line, amounted to legislation and changed U.S. immigration policy. The decision comes in the case of a man who entered the country illegally years ago and was deported in 2005. He re-entered the country illegally, but wasn't caught until he was on DUI charges earlier this year in Pennsylvania. Prior to sentencing, the judge asked the parties to provide their legal opinions on how the President's recent immigration announcements could possibly impact the judge's sentencing decision and that led to today’s ruling. A Justice Department spokesperson says, quote, “[t]he decision is unfounded and the court had no basis to issue such an order. No party in the case challenged the constitutionality of the immigration-related executive actions and the Department's filing made it clear that the executive actions did not apply to the criminal matter before the court.” Schwab added that although presidents do enjoy prosecutorial discretion on a case-by-case basis, President Obama's sweeping pronouncement involving entire classes of persons in the U.S. illegally went, in Schwab's opinion, far beyond what is legally permissible. Bret?
BAIER: We'll follow it. Shannon, thank you.
