Oklahoma lawmakers ask Congress to impeach Obama over bathroom bill rift

OKLAHOMA CITY, May 20 (UPI) -- One day after Oklahoma lawmakers passed a bill to criminalize abortion, the state legislature on Friday made a move that was perhaps even more surprising.

Lawmakers passed a resolution calling on the U.S. Congress to remove President Barack Obama -- and some of his administration's top officials -- from office over the controversial "bathroom bill" row in North Carolina recently.

Oklahoma's lawmakers don't have authority themselves to begin impeachment proceedings against the president, so they instead appealed to federal lawmakers to make it happen.

In addition to Obama, Senate Concurrent Resolution 43 asks for the removal of U.S. Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch and Education Secretary John King, Jr., from their posts.

The text of the measure also calls for the removal from office for any other federal official who "exceeded his or her constitutional authority ... based upon the grounds that the Constitution of the United States does not grant the executive branch of the federal government any authority whatsoever over the public education system, nor over the use of restrooms or other facilities thereof."

Earlier this month, the Obama administration issued a directive asking all states to allow transgender government employees and university students to use whichever bathroom they are most comfortable with.

The directive was a response to North Carolina's government passing a law that says transgender public workers and students must use the bathroom of the sex they were assigned at birth.

It's the second high-profile action taken by Oklahoma's legislature in as many days. Thursday, Oklahoma's Senate passed a measure to make it a felony for physicians to perform abortions in the state.