‘Czar’ Investigations

Last Updated: January 30, 2012

Synopsis

Article II section 2 of the U.S. Constitution states that:

“
the President shall nominate, an by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, Judges of the Supreme Court, and all other Officers of the United States, whose Appointments are not herein otherwise provided for, and which shall be established by Law.”

 

However, President Barack Obama has been taking advantage of a recent precedent by appointing government officials who are not subject to Senate approval. These “czars” have tremendous power to regulate and control enormous parts of the American economy and government. And, as powerful as these czars are, some of them may not have even been subjected to a basic FBI background check.

This has allowed Obama to appoint several people with radical left-wing views, including one who supported the “9/11 truthers” movement (which believes the Bush administration may have been behind the 9/11 terror attacks on America) and another who called for “white people” to be removed from powerful positions in the media to make way for “people of color” and gays and voiced support for virulently anti-American Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez. These czars have responsibilities that include managing America’s Middle Eastern policy, “diversity,” the auto industry, science, so-called climate change, “safe schools,” health care and even the dispersal of funds from the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP).

Judicial Watch is concerned that some of these czar appointments raise significant constitutional questions. Our goal is to find out exactly what these czars are up to, what their missions are, and how much taxpayer money and government personnel they have at their disposal. In that effort, Judicial Watch has filed Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and document requests for all 41 of the czars that Obama has appointed so far. Several of these investigations have already resulted in lawsuits due to the Obama Administration’s stonewalling with regard to the release of relevant documents. Judicial Watch has also been key in publicizing the connections some of Obama’s czars have had to radical, racist and even communist organizations.