House Speaker Paul Ryan is threatening to do yet another thing the House of Representatives has never done before in order to oppose President Obama: He will schedule a vote on a measure authorizing him to file a brief to the Supreme Court opposing Obama's immigration executive orders. That's right, Paul Ryan filing on behalf of 435 members of the House of Representatives.
Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) called it an unprecedented and “extraordinary step” at a Tuesday press conference.
“The president is not permitted to write law — only Congress is. The House will make that very, very clear, and we will do so as an institution on behalf of the American people on behalf of representative self-government,” Ryan said.
It's unprecedented and extraordinary because, if it passes even on a party line vote, it will be Ryan speaking for the entire institution—which is not unified in opposition to the executive orders. In fact, 181 members filed an amicus brief with the court in support of the president's executive orders.
Individual and united groups of members regularly file briefs—on behalf of themselves. Presumably, even if every Democrat votes against Ryan's resolution, he will file the brief on behalf of the entire House, nullifying their votes and their positions.