Andrew Napolitano: Obama Playing With Constitutional Fire on Immigration

Earlier this week, President Obama made it clear
that he will soon offer some form of limited amnesty to about five
million foreign nationals who are currently living illegally in the
United States. He will do so by issuing an executive order to
federal officials who oversee immigration directing them to
undertake a course of action that, if complied with individually by
all persons whom he designates as eligible, will cause the federal
government to remove the threat of deportation from those who meet
the standards he will lay down. Can he legally do that?

To address that question, we need to start with the principle
that a presidential action may be lawful at the same time that it
is unconstitutional, writes Andrew Napolitano. The president has
the legal power to defer deportations. The power is called
prosecutorial discretion. But if the president nullifies
deportations on such a grand scale that the effect is the
nullification of federal laws, notes Napolitano, then he has
violated his oath to “faithfully” execute his presidential
obligations.

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