August 11, 2006

Today’s DRA Court Decision Lets Constitutional Violation Stand; Public Citizen Plans Appeal

Statement of Adina Rosenbaum, Attorney, Public Citizen Litigation Group

Today, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia has allowed an unconstitutional act to stand by issuing an order dismissing Public Citizen v. Clerk, U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Public Citizen filed suit in March to challenge the constitutionality of the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 because the House of Representatives passed a different version of the bill than that which was signed into law by the president. We are disappointed in the decision, which allows a blatant violation of the Constitution to go unaddressed. The court’s decision gave an overly broad reading to Marshall Field v. Clark, an 1892 case addressing whether congressional journals could be used to demonstrate that a bill did not pass Congress, and gave insufficient weight to a recent Supreme Court decision that undermined that broad reading.  We plan to appeal, and hope that the Court of Appeals will address the constitutional violation at issue here.

To read the court's decision, click here.

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