JUST IN: Massive Ruling By Federal Court Could Dismantle Biden’s Entire Agenda

A federal court has ruled that major portions of the omnibus spending bill passed with the help of President Joe Biden in 2022 were unconstitutional, setting up a showdown to potentially negate large swaths of his agenda in the middle of his reelection campaign.

The Daily Caller reports that U.S. Northern District Judge James Wesley Hendrix in Texas ruled that the U.S. House improperly passed the bill in December 2022 without a quorum physically present. Instead, Democrats in control of the chamber at the time allowed for proxy voting, with 215 Democrats and nine Republicans voting for passage.

The suit was brought by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who celebrated the decision via a post on X Wednesday morning.

“Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi abused proxy voting under the pretext of COVID-19 to pass this law, then Biden signed it, knowing they violated the Constitution. This was a stunning violation of the rule of law. I am relieved the Court upheld the Constitution,” he wrote.

🚨 HUGE WIN: We Just Secured A Win On The Case Chal­leng­ing $1.7 Trillion Fed­er­al Fund­ing Bill Passed Uncon­sti­tu­tion­al­ly With Less Than Half of U.S. Con­gress Phys­i­cal­ly Present Congress acted egregiously by passing the largest spending bill in U.S. history with fewer… https://t.co/5GiKsg9S2C

— Attorney General Ken Paxton (@KenPaxtonTX) February 27, 2024

“Congress acted egregiously by passing the largest spending bill in U.S. history with fewer than half the members of the House bothering to do their jobs, show up, and vote in person,” Paxton said in a Tuesday afternoon release. “Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi abused proxy voting under the pretext of COVID-19 to pass this law, then Biden signed it, knowing they violated the Constitution. This was a stunning violation of the rule of law. I am relieved the Court upheld the Constitution.”

“Although the Court finds that the passage of the Consolidated Appropriations Act violated the Constitution, Texas does not seek an injunction of—and the Court does not enjoin—the entire Act,” Hendrix wrote in the 120-page opinion. “Rather, the Court enjoins only the application of the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act against Texas. The relief granted here is limited to abating the injury that Texas has proven will occur.”

“Based on the Quorum Clause’s text, original public meaning, and historical practice, the Court concludes that the Quorum Clause bars the creation of a quorum by including non-present members participating by proxy,” Hendrix added. “Supreme Court precedent has long held that the Quorum Clause requires presence, and the Clause’s text distinguishes those absent members from the quorum and provides a mechanism for obtaining a physical quorum by compelling absent members to attend. This power to compel attendance makes little sense divorced from physical presence.”

The White House did not respond when asked for comment by the Caller about the ruling.

The $1.7 trillion government spending bill funded a host of priorities for the Democratic incumbent, providing $45 billion in emergency assistance for Ukraine and NATO while funding domestic priorities to the tune of hundreds of billions of dollars. Much of the money has already been spent, leaving uncertain how AG Paxton and Republicans could seek to claw back spending that has already occurred.