Wednesday, June 17, 2009
A real czar: Nicholas II
President Barack Obama has gone too far with his numerous “czar” appointments, which represents a massive power grab, argues Ken Klukowski, a legal analyst in Washington, D.C. By some counts, Obama has created 16 czars, with even more on the way, each responsible for answering only to the president. The latest appointee, Kenneth Feinberg, has been given the authority to set the salaries of executives whose companies are receiving federal bailout funds, even though Congress did not give Feinberg such power.
Klukowski points out that the top-ranking Democrat in the Senate, Robert Byrd (D-WV), is fed up with Obama’s reliance on czars. In a letter sent to the president, Byrd claimed the czars are unconstitutional and an unprecedented attempt to centralize authority in the White House.
“Ever since this practice of appointing czars began years ago, it has always been considered possible that they are all unconstitutional,” writes Klukowski. “But it never built to a critical mass to elicit a court fight. These czars were few and far between, and rarely did anything that seriously ruffled any feathers. But President Obama has taken this to an unprecedented level, to the point where these appointments are dangerous to our constitutional regime.”
Klukowski concludes it’s just a matter of time before someone files a lawsuit questioning the legality of these czars, which hopefully will lead to the demise of such positions.
-Noel Brinkerhoff
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