President Joe Biden and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen have been sued by a union representing some 75,000 government employees demanding that the administration ignore the debt ceiling on grounds that the borrowing limit is unconstitutional.
The National Association of Government Employees (NAGE), which filed the lawsuit in a federal court in Boston on Monday, argues that the debt limit law adopted over a century ago goes against the Constitution’s separation of powers by forcing the president to cut spending already approved by Congress to prevent a default.
The 14th Amendment, which reads in part that the “validity” of the United States’ public debt “shall not be questioned,” has been interpreted to mean that the president must find money to pay national debts already incurred. The lawsuit argues that the debt limit law undermines the presidential duty to fulfill the country’s debt obligations as stipulated in the 14th Amendment, thereby violating the Constitution….