House GOP files Obamacare lawsuit against president

WASHINGTON, Nov. 21 (UPI) -- House Republicans filed a lawsuit against President Barack Obama in federal court Friday, making good on a promise from this spring to sue over executive actions.

The lawsuit, which focuses on the administration's decision to delay the Affordable Care Act's employer mandates, was approved by the House at the end of July.

"If this president can get away with making his own laws, future presidents will have the ability to as well," House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, said in a statement. The House has an obligation to stand up for the Constitution, and that is exactly why we are pursuing this course of action."

Filing of the lawsuit was delayed, at least in part, after two law firms withdrew from the case. Boehner brought George Washington University professor Jonathan Turley on earlier this week to take the case.

The lawsuit comes as Obama moves on an executive order to give deportation relief to some 5 million undocumented immigrants. GOP lawmakers have unleashed a wave of criticism, accusing the president of exceeding his legal authority there as well.

Already, some members of the House conference are considering pushing for a separate lawsuit over the immigration move.

Legal experts are divided on whether the Republicans can prove their case against the president, or if the House even has the standing to sue the Executive Branch.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., had no such doubts.

"The fact is, this lawsuit is a bald-faced attempt to achieve what Republicans have been unable to achieve through the political process," she said in a statement. "The legislative branch cannot sue simply because they disagree with the way a law passed by a different Congress has been implemented," she added. "It is clear, as one leading legal scholar put it, that this lawsuit is 'an embarrassing loser.'"