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Friday, February 19, 2010

Law and Constitutional Law be damned

Today's announcement by Obama in Las Vegas that he was transfering 1.5 billion dollars of TARP funds repaid by the banks and using those funds to bail out homeowners with delinquent mortgages in five states makes one wonder if Obama actually went to law school, let alone taught constitutional law.

First, the TARP law provided that any money recovered by the federal government was to be used for deficit reduction. It is not a 750 billion dollar slush fund to be used as desired by the administration. It is illegal for Obama to use these funds without congressional approval.

Second, the Constitution contains an equal protection clause. That means that it is unconstitutional for the government to have different laws for different states absent a compelling reason. There is no possible justification for a home owner in Nevada to be treated differently from one just across the border in Utah. (Helping Harry Reid get re-elected is not a valid reason by the way). This means that the five state program announced by Obama today is unconstitutional.

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