U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner weighed in this week with constitutional questions for Attorney General nominee Loretta Lynch on the administration’s recent abuses of those guaranteed freedoms, including gun ownership, Obamacare, and privacy.
In a letter to Lynch, Gardner said he believes every president is entitled to the cabinet they choose, however the Constitution requires that each nominee be thoroughly vetted by the Senate.
“I do not take this responsibility lightly, and recent actions taken by this administration in contravention of federal law require a clearer response from someone seeking the nation’s top law enforcement post,” Gardner said.
“Far from fulfilling its duty to faithfully execute the laws, this administration has shown a disconcerting tendency to follow the law when it finds it agreeable, while ignoring the law when it runs counter to the administration’s preferred policy.”
Citing Oklahoma’s decision to opt out of Obamacare, Gardner said that instead of respecting state laws, the administration took over the state’s health insurance industry. “This uneven enforcement and basic disregard of our federalist system undermines the rule of law in our country,” Gardner said.
The Justice Department’s ATF, taking its cues from President Obama, has also eroded individual rights guaranteed by the Constitution.
The (ATF) recently proposed a new rule to ban AR-15 ammunition used for sporting purposes. Congress already signaled its intent on this issue when the Senate voted by a large margin to uphold the Second Amendment and reject a ban on the AR-15. This recent action by ATF seems designed to again circumvent Congress, eroding the right to bear arms by banning ammunition instead of the rifle itself.
Gardner also highlighted reports that the Justice Department’s FBI was instructing local law enforcement to keep secret from local judges and prosecutors, their use privacy-invading technology acquired through cell phones. “These two examples represent startling attacks on the Second Amendment right to bear arms and Fourth Amendment privacy rights,” he said.
While Gardner and other members of the full Senate are just beginning their vetting process of the nominee, the Democrat’s temper tantrum de jour on Thursday was to accuse the GOP of unnecessary delays in confirming Obama’s nominee.
Republican’s fault? Let’s review.
Attorney General Holder announced his resignation on Sept. 25, Obama didn’t even nominate Lynch until Nov. 9, AFTER THE ELECTION so hearings couldn’t begin until January, and Lynch’s nomination was voted out of the committee last week.
Last, freaking, week.
From Real Clear Politics:
Some of the delay in Lynch’s confirmation process was last year, when Democrats still retained control of the chamber. She was nominated soon after the midterm elections, and Sen. Patrick Leahy, the ranking member of the Judiciary Committee, told reporters in a conference call Thursday that because Congress was out of session (along with other scheduling issues), it would have been difficult to move forward at that time.
So how’s about we give the Senate five minutes to review her nomination, before we start screaming about historic delays?