Washington, D.C. – In January, Sen. Johnson filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin to challenge an unlawful rule by President Obama’s Office of Personnel Management (OPM) that provided special treatment to members of Congress and their staffs and served as yet another unilateral change to Obamacare by the administration.  The District Court in July found that Sen. Johnson did not have standing to challenge the rule, and in August the senator appealed.  Today, Sen. Johnson filed his brief in the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals.  Sen. Johnson made the following remarks:

“While I was disappointed that the district court ruled that I did not have standing to challenge the OPM rule, I was encouraged that Judge Griesbach recognized the importance of the lawsuit.  In his order dismissing the case, he stated that the Obama administration violation that concerned me is not a mere technicality. Judge Griesbach wrote of the president’s violation:

“ ‘It strikes at one of the most important safeguards against tyranny that the framers erected — the separation of powers.  As James Madison explained . . . “The accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and judiciary, in the same hands, whether of one, a few, or many, and whether hereditary, self-appointed, or elective, may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny.” ’

“Because of this case’s importance, I decided to appeal the case to the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals.  Former U.S. Solicitor General Paul Clement, who strongly encouraged me to appeal, will now take the lead in the appellate phase of the case.  We believe the district court erred when it found that I did not have standing.  I look forward to resolving the standing issue so that the merits of my case can be heard."

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