On Friday, only CBS This Morning covered the latest developments on House Speaker John Boehner's lawsuit against President Obama over a 2013 executive order delaying the ObamaCare employer mandate. [Listen to the audio or watch the video after the jump] NBC's Today and ABC's Good Morning America completely ignored Boehner's office releasing the House resolution to sue the President.
However, those same morning shows did find time to cover a lawsuit against online retailer Amazon on behalf of customers being charged for accidental purchases. On Thursday evening, NBC Nightly News and ABC's World News similarly skipped the congressional move, while CBS Evening News devoted a mere twenty-two seconds to the story.
For it's part, CBS largely downplayed the suit against Obama. On This Morning, correspondent Nancy Cordes declared:
...we've known that the House Speaker wanted to file this lawsuit against the President, we just didn't know exactly why. Well, now we do....Speaker Boehner says the President didn't have the authority to issue that postponement on his own and that only Congress can change the law. So now the House is going to have to vote on whether to move forward with this lawsuit, something that's very unusual. We have seen members or groups of members try to sue a president before, but not the entire House or Senate.
Cordes then touted Obama mocking the effort: "And at a speech in Texas, the President wrote off the whole thing as a political stunt." A sound bite ran of Obama ranting: "You're going to sue me for doing my job? I mean think about that. You're gonna use taxpayer money to sue me for doing my job, while you don't do your job."
No clip was played of Boehner defending the lawsuit.
Here is a transcript of the July 11 segment:
7:08 AM ET
JEFF GLOR: Meanwhile, Speaker Boehner is moving ahead this morning with a threatened lawsuit against President Obama. Nancy Cordes is also on Capitol Hill, where the Speaker's office released a resolution laying out Boehner's argument. Nancy, good morning to you.
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Suing the President; Boehner Accuses Obama of Not Executing the Law]
NANCY CORDES: Good morning. And here's the resolution. It's just two pages. It gives the House authority to sue the President of the United States for actions that are, quote, "inconsistent with his duties under the Constitution of United States."
And for the past couple of weeks, we've known that the House Speaker wanted to file this lawsuit against the President, we just didn't know exactly why. Well, now we do. The suit has to do with the President's executive order back in 2013 postponing the mandate in the Affordable Care Act that requires large employers to provide health insurance to their employees.
Speaker Boehner says the President didn't have the authority to issue that postponement on his own and that only Congress can change the law. So now the House is going to have to vote on whether to move forward with this lawsuit, something that's very unusual. We have seen members or groups of members try to sue a president before, but not the entire House or Senate.
And at a speech in Texas, the President wrote off the whole thing as a political stunt. Take a listen.
BARACK OBAMA: You're going to sue me for doing my job? I mean think about that. You're gonna use taxpayer money to sue me for doing my job, while you don't do your job.
CORDES: These kinds of lawsuits haven't been successful in the past, but that's why Republicans chose to sue over the Affordable Care Act instead of some of the other issues they were considering. They think they have the strongest legal standing here, especially after the administration's defeat in the related Hobby Lobby suit in front of the Supreme Court last week. Norah.
NORAH O'DONNELL: Alright, Nancy, thank you.
