{"id":15258,"date":"2012-04-27T06:11:30","date_gmt":"2012-04-27T10:11:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.www.liveactionnews.org\/?p=15258"},"modified":"2013-04-03T01:04:09","modified_gmt":"2013-04-03T05:04:09","slug":"kathleen-sebelius-admits-she-didnt-bother-to-ensure-contraception-mandate-was-constitutional","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/kathleen-sebelius-admits-she-didnt-bother-to-ensure-contraception-mandate-was-constitutional\/","title":{"rendered":"Kathleen Sebelius admits she didn’t bother to ensure HHS Mandate was constitutional"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>

\"\"Courtesy of PJ Media<\/a>, here\u2019s a revelation that\u2019s somehow nowhere near as shocking as it ought to be. Yesterday on Capitol Hill, Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius admitted that she didn\u2019t bother to check the Constitution or judicial precedent before going ahead with the Obama administration\u2019s contraception mandate.<\/p>\n

Asked by Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-SC) what tests of legal interpretation she used to determine that the mandate struck the right balance with religious liberty, Sebelius answered:<\/p>\n

Congressman, I\u2019m not a lawyer and I don\u2019t pretend to understand the nuances of the constitutional balancing tests[.] [\u2026] I am not going to wade into constitutional law, I\u2019m talking about the fact that we are implementing a law that was passed by the Congress, signed by the President, which directed our department to develop a package of preventive health services for women. We have done just that with the advice of the Institute of Medicine, and promulgated that rule.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Note well that the combination of congressional votes, presidential signatures, and the opinion of the Institute of Medicine amounts to somewhere between nada and zilch when it comes to constitutional law.<\/p>\n

Not-Lawyer Sebelius then admitted that she didn\u2019t even attempt to cure her ignorance before making policy:<\/p>\n

GOWDY: Before this rule was promulgated, did you read any of the Supreme Court cases on religious liberty?<\/p>\n

SEBELIUS: I did not.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In response, Gowdy took some time to inform the secretary of several such cases, in which the Supreme Court overwhelmingly sided with religious groups over \u201ccompelling government interests.\u201d The stage set, Gowdy grilled Sebelius again:<\/p>\n

GOWDY: So when you say you balance things, can you understand why I might be seeking a constitutional balancing instead of any other kind?<\/p>\n

SEBELIUS: I do, sir, and I defer to our lawyers to give me good advice on the Constitution. I do not pretend to be a constitutional lawyer-<\/p>\n

GOWDY: Is there a legal memo that you relied on, at least when-<\/p>\n

SEBELIUS: I relied on discussions.<\/p>\n

GOWDY: At least when Attorney General Holder made his recess appointments there was a legal memo that he relied on. Is there one you can share with us?<\/p>\n

SEBELIUS: Attorney General Holder clearly runs the Justice Department and lives in a world of legal memos.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Nobody expects every politician or administrator to be a full-blown constitutional scholar. But Sebelius\u2019 complete disinterest in the Constitution is an inexcusably drastic lurch in the opposite direction. I didn\u2019t check precedent; Congress’s and the president\u2019s approval was good enough for me<\/em>\u2026 Sebelius thinks the constitutionality of her department\u2019s actions is somebody else\u2019s problem.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s not how it works. Just like all other federal officers, Sebelius took an oath<\/a> to \u201csupport and defend the Constitution of the United States.\u201d She\u2019s not supposed to just pass the buck on to the lawyers and the courts; it\u2019s her<\/em> responsibility to do the homework necessary to ensure that she\u2019s not breaking the law in the course of her duties. That means looking up the precedent, consulting with legal authorities, reading the Founders\u2019 explanation of their intent, and, believe it or not, flipping through the Constitution once in a while.<\/p>\n

Seriously, Kathleen, it\u2019s not that bad. My pocket copy\u2019s only thirty pages. The First Amendment<\/a> is just forty-five words. Reading the Constitution: so easy a Cabinet secretary can do it!<\/em><\/p>\n

To those of us who\u2019ve been paying attention, it\u2019s no surprise that religious liberty isn’t a concern<\/a> for the Obama administration, but one still can\u2019t help but be taken aback by how little they try to mask their dereliction of duty.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dereliction of duty this brazen should be a lot harder to come by.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":54,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nKathleen Sebelius admits she didn't bother to ensure HHS Mandate was constitutional - Live Action News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/kathleen-sebelius-admits-she-didnt-bother-to-ensure-contraception-mandate-was-constitutional\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Kathleen Sebelius admits she didn't bother to ensure HHS Mandate was constitutional - Live Action News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Dereliction of duty this brazen should be a lot harder to come by.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/kathleen-sebelius-admits-she-didnt-bother-to-ensure-contraception-mandate-was-constitutional\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Live Action News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/liveaction\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-04-27T10:11:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2013-04-03T05:04:09+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.www.liveactionnews.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/kathleen-sebelius.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Calvin Freiburger\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@liveaction\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@liveaction\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Calvin Freiburger\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/kathleen-sebelius-admits-she-didnt-bother-to-ensure-contraception-mandate-was-constitutional\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/kathleen-sebelius-admits-she-didnt-bother-to-ensure-contraception-mandate-was-constitutional\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Calvin Freiburger\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/6eb2bf94c8064b71953ba137bf413c4d\"},\"headline\":\"Kathleen Sebelius admits she didn’t bother to ensure HHS Mandate was constitutional\",\"datePublished\":\"2012-04-27T10:11:30+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-04-03T05:04:09+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/kathleen-sebelius-admits-she-didnt-bother-to-ensure-contraception-mandate-was-constitutional\/\"},\"wordCount\":625,\"commentCount\":10,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Politics\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/kathleen-sebelius-admits-she-didnt-bother-to-ensure-contraception-mandate-was-constitutional\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/kathleen-sebelius-admits-she-didnt-bother-to-ensure-contraception-mandate-was-constitutional\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/kathleen-sebelius-admits-she-didnt-bother-to-ensure-contraception-mandate-was-constitutional\/\",\"name\":\"Kathleen Sebelius admits she didn't bother to ensure HHS Mandate was constitutional - 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Calvin is an editor and administrator for TheFederalistPapers.org, and his work has appeared on NewsRealBlog.com, PatriotUpdate.com, LifeNews.com, LifeSiteNews.com, RightWisconsin.com, AmericanThinker.com, Stream.org, AmericanClarion.org, and more. Please check out his official website, ConservativeStandards.com. 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Calvin is an editor and administrator for TheFederalistPapers.org, and his work has appeared on NewsRealBlog.com, PatriotUpdate.com, LifeNews.com, LifeSiteNews.com, RightWisconsin.com, AmericanThinker.com, Stream.org, AmericanClarion.org, and more. Please check out his official website, ConservativeStandards.com. 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