Virginia’s just-elected Dave Brat — who won his congressional seat thanks in part to a swell of tea party support from voters — called President Obama’s executive action on immigration a “morally vacuous” move that bypasses America’s rule of law.
The president “is circumventing the constitutional process and the rule of law,” especially when he “invokes feelings and sentiments related to compassion” for illegals, he said in an interview with Newsmax.
Mr. Brat referred to Mr. Obama’s dictate to grant a three-year stay on deportations for roughly 5 million illegals as simply an “end-run around” to the Constitution and proper legislative process, and a “morally vacuous” move, Newsmax said.
He also blasted the president for characterizing his executive action as rooted in Judeo-Christian principles, Newsmax said.
At the same time, Mr. Brat stayed just shy of calling for the president’s impeachment — at least, for now.
“I’m of the mind you have to first start with the facts,” he said, Newsmax reported. “We need the best minds in the country to establish whether this end-run is in fact unconstitutional or not. So you start with that. … So the first thing I want to do is get the best constitutional minds to put that on paper … and let’s prove, and put down concretely, exactly where the president has overreached. Once that’s settled, then we can move on from there.”
Mr. Brat said he’s “not a constitutional expert, so I want to hear from the best minds on that one,” Newsmax reported.
Mr. Brat’s election ousted Eric Cantor — a somewhat shocker for the political structure of Washington, D.C.
• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
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