Monday Open Thread [10.27.14]

I mentioned over the weekend or late last week that the Republicans in Congress have failed to file their much lauded and hyped lawsuit against President Obama as yet. We have now found out from Simon Lazarus and Elisabeth Stein of the Constitutional Accountability Center (through an exclusive in Washington Monthly’s Ten Miles Square blog) that there was a very good reason for it: the lawsuit is entirely and wholly without basis in law or fact, and the filing of such a claim may risk Rule 11 sanctions against the attorneys who file it. Rule 11 is a Federal Court rule that seeks to limit frivioulous lawsuits that are without basis by monetarily sanctioning the attorneys who file them.

While bearing an opaquely generic title – “A Primer on the Reviewability of Agency Delay and Enforcement Discretion,” the report actually targets a single instance of alleged agency delay and exercise of enforcement discretion – the Obama Administration’s adjustments of effective dates for the Affordable Care Act’s so-called employer mandate to offer employees ACA-complaint health insurance or pay a tax. This delay happens to be the basis – the sole basis – for the legal action against the President that Boehner outlined in July. Although shrouded in twelve pages of fine print and protectively bureaucratic phraseology, the report’s bottom line is clear: not merely are the legal underpinnings of the Republicans’ planned lawsuit weak; the report turns up no legal basis – no “there” there – at all.

Rule 11 is a Federal Court rule that seeks to limit frivioulous lawsuits that are without basis by monetarily sanctioning the attorneys who file them.

E.J. Dionne Jr. on some underappreciated facts about the 2014 Midterms:

Underappreciated fact No. 1: The number of Democratic seats that are not in play this year.

In planning its effort to take control of the Senate, Republicans shrewdly launched challenges to Democrats in states that would not automatically be on a GOP target list. “Broadening the map” is wise when you’re in a strong position. Two of the states on that extended list, Colorado and Iowa, have paid off for Republicans. […] Just as striking is how many Democrats seem to have nailed down races the Republicans had once hoped to make competitive. This has narrowed the GOP’s path to a majority. Among them: Sen. Al Franken of Minnesota, Sen. Jeff Merkley of Oregon and Rep. Gary Peters of Michigan, who is likely to retain Sen. Carl Levin’s seat. Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia is also polling well, though he was always favored against former Republican National Committee chairman Ed Gillespie. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire is in a tougher race with former Massachusetts senator Scott Brown, but she has led most of the way.

[U]nderappreciated fact No. 2: How important economic issues have been in shoring up the party’s incumbents and in giving life to Democratic challengers in Georgia, Kentucky and (a much longer shot) South Dakota. [E]ndangered Democrats are campaigning on a different set of national concerns related to economic worries. These include equal pay for women, relief for student loan recipients and a minimum-wage increase. Several Democrats, including Shaheen and Michelle Nunn in Georgia, have made an issue of opposing the outsourcing of U.S. jobs overseas.

[U]nderappreciated fact No. 3: Given Obama’s low approval ratings, Republicans could have been running away with this thing. They’re not, because they look more extreme and out of touch than they did four years ago.