In an exclusive interview with Newsmax.TV Friday, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said President Barack Obama’s decision not to fully enforce the Defense of Marriage law has sparked a constitutional crisis as he has directly violated his constitutional duties by arbitrarily suspending a law.
Gingrich for the first time raised the specter of Obama’s removal from office, noting that, if a “President Sarah Palin” had taken a similar action, there would have been immediate calls for her impeachment.
Obama Attorney General Eric Holder said on Wednesday that the administration will not defend the constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act in the courts, which has banned recognition of same-gender marriage for 15 years. President Clinton signed the act into law in 1996.
Obama’s decision to forego a legal defense of the law has caused a firestorm of anger from conservative groups.
Gingrich slammed Obama for his decision, telling Newsmax that he is not a “one-person Supreme Court” and his decision sets a “very dangerous precedent” that must not be allowed to stand.
“Imagine that Governor Palin had become president. Imagine that she had announced that Roe versus Wade in her view was unconstitutional and therefore the United States government would no longer protect anyone’s right to have an abortion because she personally had decided it should be changed. The news media would have gone crazy. The New York Times would have demanded her impeachment.”
Gingrich’s comments mark the first time a significant Republican leader has raised the specter of impeachment against Obama.
“First of all, he campaigned in favor of [the law]. He is breaking his word to the American people,” Gingrich says.
“Second, he swore an oath on the Bible to become president that he would uphold the Constitution and enforce the laws of the United States. He is not a one-person Supreme Court. The idea that we now have the rule of Obama instead of the rule of law should frighten everybody.
“The fact that the left likes the policy is allowing them to ignore the fact that this is a very unconstitutional act,” Gingrich said.
Gingrich said it is too early to call for Obama’s impeachment, but did not rule it out if he fails to comply with Congress and the constitutional process.
“I believe the House Republicans next week should pass a resolution instructing the president to enforce the law and to obey his own constitutional oath, and they should say if he fails to do so that they will zero out [defund] the office of attorney general and take other steps as necessary until the president agrees to do his job.
“His job is to enforce the rule of law and for us to start replacing the rule of law with the rule of Obama is a very dangerous precedent.
“Clearly it is a dereliction of duty and a violation of his constitutional oath and is something that cannot be allowed to stand.”
Gingrich adds: “I don’t think these guys set out to create a constitutional crisis. I think they set out to pay off their allies in the gay community and to do something that they thought was clever. I think they didn’t understand the implication that having a president personally suspend a law is clearly unconstitutional.”
(Source: Newsmax)
Join the official YWN WhatsApp status
6 Responses
Extremely misrepresented and unfair. In the interview he mentioned impeachment in a hypothetical with regards to Palin. The interviewer afterwards tried to put impeachment, with regards to Obama, in his mouth with which he consistently got avoided. The only time he agreed with the interviewers persistency was in drastic scenarios that will never happen. In cases where Obama drastically breaks the law. Wasn’t even close to a warning and the republicans wouldn’t even want to do that now. Very unpolitical and cheap. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not an Obama fan, but you gotta be fair.
meant to say “cosistently avoided”. Not got avoided.
By this logic he would have supported the impeachment of Bush many times over. Bush repeatedly made “signing statements” in which he said he would not obey the law that he signed.
And there is NO obligation to appeal every unfavorable decision all the way to the Supreme Court.
This article is mislabeled. Shouldn’t it say “Gingrich SAYS ITS TOO EARLY TO BE GIVING Obama Impeachment Warning”.
As the article says “Gingrich said it is too early to call for Obama’s impeachment”.
he never fails to demonstrate how outrageous he is & his voracious appetite for attention
Remember the last time Gingrich pulled an impeachment threat out of his hat? Two years later, Gingrich left office under a cloud, largely of his own making, that included a revelation that he was cheating on his second wife with a staffer who would become his third wife. If you are an Obama supporter, an impeachment threat from Gingrich is probably good news.