White House Rules Out Constitutional Option On Debt Ceiling: Report

I've shared with you Jeffrey Rosen's opinion, and now here's Jonathan Turley's:

Fourteenth Amendment states:

The argument goes that Section 4 of the Fourteenth Amendment declares:

“The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressin­g insurrecti­on or rebellion, shall not be questioned­. But neither the United States nor any State shall assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrecti­on or rebellion against the United States, or any claim for the loss or emancipati­on of any slave; but all such debts, obligation­s and claims shall be held illegal and void.”

The argument goes that, by not lifting the debt limit, Congress is “questioni­ng” “the validity of the public debt of the United States.” Under this logic, advocates are encouragin­g President Obama to simply pay the debts in accordance with the Constituti­on. That would be an extreme step that would add a constituti­onal crisis to an economic crisis.

The “authorize­d by law” clause could present an interestin­g debate since the debt ceiling is part of a federal statute — though conversely so is the obligation to pay things like social security.

The language is certainly written in absolute terms but it is not likely that a court would rule that it makes a failure to lift the debt ceiling unconstitu­tional. Congress can argue that it fully intends to pay its debts, but that there is a political dispute over how and when. They can argue that they were not challengin­g the “validity” of the debt but the priority in the payment. The United States will still be fully liable for the debt and the interest.

Of course, as with the Libyan War, the Administra­tion could trigger the constituti­onal fight on the belief that no one will be able to get standing to challenge its payment of the debt.

Read the Article at HuffingtonPost