More on Obama's Lawlessness

Investors' Business Daily has a list of some of the unilateral actions taken by Obama.

. . . "Whenever Congress refuses to act, Joe and I we're going to act," Obama said in February at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, with Vice President Joe Biden off to the side. "In the months to come, wherever we have an opportunity, we're going to take steps on our own to keep this economy moving."
Obama took that opportunity regarding immigration when he announced he was unilaterally suspending the deportation of some young illegal aliens and allowing others to apply for green cards, essentially implementing the provisions of the so-called Dream Act he has been unable to get through Congress, including one in his first two years dominated by his own party.
. . . Congress has passed numerous laws pertaining to immigration and naturalization, including laws requiring the deportation of illegals. . . . Obama don't need no stinkin' Congress.
Can't get cap-and-trade or the Kyoto Protocol through Congress? Let the EPA implement through regulations and then ignore the courts when they think your energy policy has crossed the legal line.
Louisiana Federal District Court Judge Martin Feldman found the Obama Interior Department in contempt of his ruling that the offshore oil drilling moratorium, imposed by the administration in 2010, was unconstitutional. After Feldman struck down the initial drilling ban, the Interior Department simply established a second ban that was virtually identical.
In January, the president illegally appointed a director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, along with three appointments to the National Labor Relations Board, all without the approval of a Senate still legally in session, as the Constitution requires.
The president also selectively decides which laws he'll enforce and which he won't. Regarding education, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan recently granted waivers to 10 states, freeing them from the strict requirements of the 2002 No Child Left Behind Act.
In February 2011, the Justice Department announced it would not defend the Defense of Marriage Act against court challenges. Last August, Obama's DHS announced it would no longer deport the noncitizen spouses of gay Americans — a direct contradiction to DOMA as well. . . .

Here is a nice discussion of the lawlessness involved with Solyndra.

What if the President of the United States flagrantly broke federal law to the financial benefit of his campaign contributors, ultimately costing U.S. taxpayers millions, but there was no way to hold him accountable? 

That is exactly what happened when California solar panel manufacture Solyndra threatened bankruptcy in late 2010 and the Obama Energy Department agreed to illegally restructure their loan. But unless he is defeated at the ballot box this November, President Obama will get away with it. 

Solyndra first sought a loan guarantee pursuant to the 2005 Energy Policy Act in 2008, but they were rejected by the Bush Energy Department. Solyndra then reapplied for another loan from the Obama administration and was awarded a $535 million guarantee in September 2009. Solyndra was the first company ever to get a loan guarantee pursuant to the Energy Policy Act and Obama made the company the signature showcase of his green energy economic stimulus plan. 

But by December 2010, Solyndra had already burned through $440 million in taxpayer money and another $175 million in private money. Unless they got more private and public cash immediately, Solyndra would have to declare bankruptcy, causing major political embarrassment for the Obama administration. So on December 7th, Solyndra executives met with DOE officials and Obama donor/Solyndra investor Steve Mitchell, who represented Obama megadonor/Solyndra investor George Kaiser. . . .

More of a summary of Solyndra is available here.

When Solyndra came to DOE in October 2012, it had already blown through $440 million of taxpayer money. Solyndra desperately needed an infusion of cash to keep running. Problem is, no private investor was willing to risk its money to keep Solyndra going. 

But Obama megadonor and Solyndra investor George Kaiser has a plan. He sent his minion, fellow Obama donor and Solyndra investor Steve Mitchell, to DOE to make the department an offer it couldn't refuse.Mitchell told DOE he would find $75 million in private money to invest in Solyndra, but only if DOE agreed to subordinate the taxpayer's investment to his. In other words, if Solyndra went bankrupt, Kaiser and Mitchell would get their money first, taxpayers last. 

At first, DOE turned down Mitchell's offer. It would have been illegal for the department to accept it. The Energy Policy Act of 2005, the governing statute, clearly states that the government must be repaid first in bankruptcy -- that its stake cannot be "subordinate to other financing." But after Mitchell told DOE that he would rather let Solyndra go bankrupt than invest more of his money without government protection, DOE caved and agreed to subordinate the taxpayer loan. The folks at Energy just couldn't take the political embarrassment of letting Solyndra go bankrupt. . . . 

Charles Krauthammer has this great quote by Obama.

“With respect to the notion that I can just suspend deportations [of immigrants brought here illegally as children] through executive order, that’s just not the case, because there are laws on the books that Congress has passed.” — President Obama, March 28, 2011 

Those laws remain on the books. They have not changed. Yet Obama last week suspended these very deportations — granting infinitely renewable “deferred action” with attendant work permits — thereby unilaterally rewriting the law. And doing precisely what he himself admits he is barred from doing.  Obama had tried to change the law. In late 2010, he asked Congress to pass the Dream Act. . . .

Andrew McCarthy has his own discussion available here.  Note that he has an error when he claims that Obama has appointed half the Federal judiciary.