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Judge schedules hearing for May 31 on union's emergency motion to suspend debt ceiling law [1]
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Date: 2023-05-24
On Monday, the Justice Department signaled that it intended to oppose National Association of Government Employees’ request for a preliminary emergency injunction. A court document states in one part: “Defendants intend to file an opposition to Plaintiff’s Emergency Motion for Preliminary Injunction.” But the DOJ did not say anything about the nature of its objection.
Politico reported that Stearns resisted holding the hearing earlier than May 31. The judge said: “If the emergency is as dire as you think it is, I would think that it’s within the power of the president to address it using executive branch authority.”
But Politico said that Stearns did not get a direct answer from Justice Department lawyer Alexander Ely when he asked whether the DOJ disagreed with National Association of Government Employees’ main argument in the suit that the president has the authority under the constitution to ignore the debt ceiling statute. Josh Gerstein for Politico wrote:
Ely said he was not authorized to stake out a position on that question and he suggested that the department would argue that the union’s suit is not a proper vehicle to force DOJ to come to a legal conclusion. “This requires high-level coordination among the U.S. government,” said Ely. But an attorney for the union, Thomas Geoghegan, pointed out that the claims of an imminent cataclysm from a possible default originate with the very officials named as defendants in the suit. “This is an unusual case in which the defendants are predicting the calamity,” Geoghegan said as he asked the judge to agree to a speedy process. “The local rules do not take into account that there is a catastrophe looming in this case.”
Geoghegan suggested that the DOJ was avoiding staking out a position on this issue for now because it could have a big impact on the ongoing talks between the White House and House Republican leaders.
In any case, the National Association of Government Employees’ request for a preliminary injunction does offer an emergency option should the House GOP caucus of MAGA decide to follow Donald Trump’s lead and block any compromise deal to raise the debt ceiling, pushing the country into a catastrophic default. Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy have been talking daily in an effort to reach a deal to raise the debt ceiling to avoid an economically catastrophic default.
The lawsuit filed by National Association of Government Employees has no relation to the negotiations between the White House and House Republican hostage-takers who are using the debt ceiling as leverage to force Democrats to agree to spending cuts that would hurt poor and working-class people. The Republicans have rejected doing anything to increase revenue by closing tax loopholes for the wealthy.
Progressive Democrats in the House and Senate have urged Biden not to cave to House Republicans.They want Biden to invoke the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which states that "the validity of the public debt ... shall not be questioned."
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[1] Url:
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/5/24/2171060/-US-judge-schedules-hearing-for-May-31-on-union-s-emergency-motion-to-suspend-debt-ceiling-law
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