No, not that good doctor… a different one.

This is something I found on the website for a local legal newspaper, The Record.  They report that, “Dr. Randy J. Jung filed the request for a restraining order Friday, arguing Congress and Bush exceeded their constitutional authority when passing H.R. 1424, otherwise known as the bailout bill.”

Here is the bulk of his statement:

“In the spirit of the Magna Carta where the King and government are required to follow their own laws; and in the honorable tradition of the Judicial Branch of government providing checks and balances for excesses of Congress and/or the President, I would like to plead that a restraining order be issued preventing the ‘bailout bill’ from being enforced until after a federal judge has ruled on the above matters which strongly indicate that the Congress and President have exceeded their Constitutional authority passing H.R. 1424 as amended,” the complaint states.

“After reading Article I, Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution, I do not see where Congress has the legal authority to deprive its citizens of property in the form of taxation to effect the above act and bailout the troubled financial district,” the complaint also states.

Jung argues since the bailout bill is an attachment to mental health legislation, it makes it “extra topical to the spirit and scope of the mental health act” and is an effort to “get around the fact that the U.S. Senate is the originator of a bill raising revenue of $700 billion, which exceeds the rights of the U.S. Senate as indicated in Article I, section 7.

“The U.S. Senate has taken away the constitutional right of the House of Representatives to originate bills for raising revenue; and is assuming that function for the Senate,” the complaint states.

“Sometimes, children are abused by their parent, relative, acquaintance, or stranger,” the complaint also states. “This abuse generally occurs in a milieu of neglect where other adults fail to allege that the perpetrator has exceeded his rights; and exercised his will over the child simply because he is powerful enough to do so.”

Click for the full article:  Doctor asks federal judge to issue restraining order stopping bailout bill

I don’t harbor any illusions that this will actually accomplish anything but it is exactly the sort of thing that should.

One odd tidbit…  I actually went to school with the son of the U.S. District Judge assigned to the case.  Maybe I should get out some old phone numbers and start lobbying for sanity.