Legal Question in Constitutional Law in Kentucky

Can a US citizen, or joint citizen organization file a lawsuit against the President of the United States


Asked on 7/02/14, 7:19 am

1 Answer from Attorneys

Edward Hoffman Law Offices of Edward A. Hoffman

Nothing will prevent you from filing. Winning is another matter.

If the president breached a contract with you or gave you some other ordinary type of claim, then you can take him to court just as you could anyone else. But you can't successfully sue him because you think he should do his job differently. If such lawsuits could get anywhere, every president would be hit with thousands of them. Every other high-level government official would have the same problem. The government would not be able to function.

The separation of powers doctrine is one of the many reasons we don't allow such lawsuits. The president heads the executive branch of the government, while the courts are in the judicial branch. Judges can't tell the president how to do his job any more than the president can tell them how to do theirs.

Let me add that few rules are absolute. There may be some *very* unusual circumstances where a case against the president could succeed. It's unlikely that the claim you have in mind would be valid, but you should discuss it in detail with a lawyer if you want to make sure.

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Answered on 7/02/14, 11:47 am


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