Sen. Ron Johnson, left, filed the lawsuit
As Steve Benen
notes,
this is not good news for House Speaker John Boehner's lawsuit against President Obama:
A federal judge based in Green Bay has tossed a Sen. Ron Johnson’s Obamacare lawsuit targeting the health benefits for members of Congress and their staff.
Why did the judge toss it out?
Chief Judge William C. Griesbach of the Eastern District of Wisconsin ruled that Johnson and fellow plaintiff Brooke Ericson lacked standing, siding with the argument made by the government’s lawyers.
Lack of standing is
precisely the problem Boehner will face in his lawsuit. Just as Johnson couldn't convince the court he had been injured by Obamacare, Boehner will have a difficult time as well.
But if you're a conservative who thinks President Obama has stepped so far over the line that nothing short of impeachment will make you happy, then you're in luck, because according to the legal geniuses that devised Boehner's lawsuit, if it is dismissed for lack of standing, impeachment is the only option that will be left:
Rivkin and Foley claim that a similar situation exists in their challenge to the president’s schedule for implementing parts of Obamacare — “without judicial review of the president’s suspension, there is literally no other way[,] short of impeachment,” to challenge President Obama’s actions.
So maybe this is bad news for cowardly RINOs like Johnson and Boehner who merely want to sue Obama. But you can already hear the brave conservatives who want to impeach him rubbing their hands with glee.