One of the most distressing aspects of the Obama presidency has been the president's using powers not granted to the president to get what he wants. If this stands, he  will have drastically changed our form of government.

Is it just possible that the Supreme Court could rectify the situation? The Supreme Court has taken up a case, filed by twenty-six states, that challenges the president's unilateral actions on immigration. Tierney Sneed has written about a surprising development in this case: the court wants a briefing on whether the memo setting forth the administration's policy “violates the Take Care Clause of the Constitution."

Sneed writes:

Its inclusion by the Supreme Court raises the stakes on the suit by opening up the possibility that the court is interested in hearing arguments that the executive action has violated not just administrative protocol or even statutory law, but the Constitution. A ruling by the court on that basis could redefine the parameters of executive power just as Obama is maximizing his use of unilateral action to bypass Congress in the waning days of his presidency.

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Conservatives from Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) to Hans von Spakovsky of the Heritage Foundation have celebrated the question's inclusion. It has the potential to bring "a sweeping decision that strongly limits executive discretion in a host of areas besides immigration enforcement," von Spakovsky wrote in an op-ed with fellow Heritage expert Andrew Kloster.

“The Supreme Court — if they address it at a constitutional level — will absolutely touch on the extent of executive power, because this president has really pushed executive authority well beyond where other presidents have gone in this area,” Carrie Severino, chief counsel and policy director of the Judicial Crisis Network — a conservative legal organization — told TPM.

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The Take Care Clause provides that the president “shall take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed.” Courts have been reluctant to interpret it, but it has been understood to both give the president the authority to implement laws but also to do so in a way that’s “faithful” to statutes passed by Congress.

We are urged not to read too much into the court's request, but of course it is tempting to do so as we have watched President Obama aggressively and repeatedly bypass the legislative arm of government.