Are you a Democrat who can provide legal justification for President Obama issuing work documents to illegal aliens in his proposed executive order? If so then you need to contact Lawrence O'Donnell, host of MSNBC's The Last Word.
O'Donnell has claimed that he spent days trying to track down such a Democrat but was unable to find any who could provide such justification. Among those Democrats unable to provide a constitutional basis for that part of the executive order was Representative Peter Welch of Vermont who presented the face of befuddlement when asked that question by O'Donnell.
LAWRENCE O'DONNELL: No one at the White House has been able to give me the legal justification for the following components of the President's plan which was leaked to the New York Times. The part where it says...and just to be clear at the outset...most of this is just prosecutorial discretion, it's just law enforcement discretion, every chief executive has that from mayors to governors, police chiefs have that. We understand. Most of it is completely within the President's power. The part that's questionable is the part where the New York Times said that the President will allow many parents of children who are American citizens or legal residents to obtain legal work documents. Can you tell me and has the White House told you what is the legal justification for the President to create a new category of beneficiaries for work documents? How can that be done without legislation?
REP. PETER WELCH: You know Lawrence, I can't tell you and I'm not the lawyer who's going to be litigating this case so the answer to that will be decided by the courts as you and I know. But here's what I can tell you...
O'DONNELL: Congressman as far as you know, I don't mean to badger you about this but I've been on this for days now. I haven't found a single elected Democrat. Not one Democrat in Washington who can answer the question that I just put to you. Have you heard it answered by any Democrats?
WELCH: I haven't. I haven't.
Exit question: Who will be the first brave reporter to ask Hillary Clinton this question after she finally emerges from her post-election isolation?
