The DCCC is fundraising by asking donors to help fight a non-existent Republican lawsuit.
A May 12 e-mail with the subject line “Obama faces BLIND HATRED” by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) opens with an untrue headline employing bold-face type in all caps:
“BREAKING: REPUBLICANS LAUNCH ANTI-OBAMA LAWSUIT”
In fact, Republicans did not launch an “anti-Obama lawsuit” – and the lawsuit the DCCC is apparently citing is certainly not “breaking.”
Republicans merely filed an opinion with the court regarding a lawsuit by 26 states filed back in December of last year.
D.C. Bar Member and Assistant Editor for Commentary at CNSNews Michael Morris explains:
Though Republican-led states and state leaders did indeed launch what the DCCC has termed an “anti-Obama” lawsuit, I would be hard-pressed to consider that to be “breaking” news, unless, of course, you consider the original filing by 17 states back on December 3, 2014 “breaking.”
113 Congressional Republicans have recently, as of May 11, 2015, “backed TWENTY-SIX states who are SUING President Obama,” as the DCCC email submits. However, these 113 Republicans, according to an article found on The Hill, have merely filed an amicus curiae brief. They have not launched an “anti-Obama lawsuit,” as the headline in the DCCC email seems to suggest.
Indeed, as Cornell University Law School aptly states, amicus curiae is “[l]atin for ‘friend of the court.’” Such a filing is made on behalf of a nonparty, who may have a strong interest in the matter at hand, “with the intent of influencing the court’s decision.”
Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), one of the “113 Congressional Republicans” to sign the amicus brief, tells MRCTV the DCCC e-mail is either willfully misleading its donors or ignorant of the difference between an opinion and a lawsuit:
"The DCCC is either deceiving its donors or doesn’t understand the judicial system with its fundraising headline about our amicus brief filed this week.
“The amicus brief informs the court of our opinion in an already pending lawsuit filed by several states. The Supreme Court has held time and again that immigration law is vested in Congress, as stated in our Constitution. Our amicus brief is Congress working to uphold our constitutional responsibility to determine immigration law, but apparently the DCCC is asking Americans to help them silence that voice established by our Founding Fathers. This president has shown little interest in upholding the law, whether it is the current amnesty executive order under review or when he broke the law last summer by releasing the five most dangerous detainees from Guantanamo Bay.”
The text of the DCCC’s May 12 e-mail follows:
BREAKING: REPUBLICANS LAUNCH ANTI-OBAMA LAWSUIT
Unbelievable.
Yesterday, 113 Congressional Republicans backed TWENTY-SIX states who are SUING President Obama.
Again and again, Republicans have thrown roadblocks in our way, just to ruin President Obama’s legacy. But this assault on the President is a historic new low. Enough is enough.
The President needs an ENORMOUS surge of grassroots support behind him today. That’s the single best thing we can do.Will you help us hit 10,000 gifts behind President Obama’s agenda in the next 24 hours?
Remember, Friend: President Obama still has over 600 days in office. There’s so much more we can accomplish together -- but not if we let the Republicans hold up all of our progress in court.
Thanks,
DCCC