Tuesday's remarks by President Joe Biden, who acknowledged he was thinking about using the 14th Amendment to end the debt standoff, caused a stir. However, he added that he was concerned the matter would end up in court.
The politically engaged constitutional scholar who first introduced Vice President Biden to the concept called the president's worries unfounded on Wednesday.
Harvard professor Laurence Tribe said, "I don't think there is any litigation to fear," adding that he "hopes" Biden understands that a legal challenge is nothing to be concerned about.
Tribe's response to Biden is part of his most recent attempt to convince the president to use cutting-edge legal arguments to resolve the increasingly difficult debt ceiling standoff.
In a May 7 op-ed in the New York Times, Tribe argued that the debt ceiling must be disregarded in order for the president to carry out other laws passed by Congress.
Biden expressed openness to the argument at a press conference on Tuesday but largely rejected the idea of pursuing the option in the context of the current standoff…..
He noted that because the use of the 14th Amendment would be challenged in court, it would spark similar questions around default and, potentially, market chaos. He added that he was looking at the idea after the current standoff is resolved. 14th amendment