North Carolina Rep. Accuses President Obama of 'Egregious Abuse'

A North Carolina congressman is accusing the Obama Administration of overstepping its bounds by filing federal lawsuits over the state's bathroom law.

Congressman Robert Pittenger, R-N.C., told CBN News that President Obama has gone too far in the fight.

"I think what we see once again is the egregious abuse of the authority of the president," Pittenger said. "We have a defined separation of powers inside our government given by our founding fathers. This came from ancient Greece, and the president does not respect that."

"He sees that he can give out edicts, and that they should be followed. And this is a government of the people, by the people and for the people," he continued. 

"They're defying the Constitution by not acknowledging the separation of powers," Pittenger said. "Section One of the Constitution clearly conveys that the authority given in writing legislation is to the United States Congress. So that is our obligation, our requirement, our duty; that's not the duty of the president."

The U.S. Justice Department and North Carolina filed dueling lawsuits over the state's bathroom law known as HB2, which requires transgender people to use the public restroom that matches the sex on their birth certificate.

North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory agrees that the federal government has no place in this debate.

"Our nation is dealing with a very new, complex and emotional issue: how to balance the expectations of privacy and equality in one of the most private areas of our lives," Gov. McCrory said in a statement Monday.

"They are now telling every government agency and every company that employs more than 15 people that men should be allowed to use a women's locker room, restroom or shower facility," he said. "We believe a court, rather than a federal agency should tell our state, our nation and employers across the country what the law requires." 

The Department of Justice says HB2 violates the federal civil rights of transgender people.

"The legislature and the governor placed North Carolina in direct opposition to federal laws prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sex and gender identity," U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch said. "More to the point, they created state-sponsored discrimination against transgender individuals, who simply seek to engage in the most private of functions in a place of safety and security - a right taken for granted by most of us."

Roger Severino of The Heritage Foundation disagrees.

"This was designed to protect the privacy, security and the modesty of women and girls," Severino told CBN News. "Yet, the Department of Justice has sued, saying it's sex discrimination under old laws from the 60s and 70s when everybody knows that sex discrimination refers to a biological reality, not gender identity."

"The Department of Justice is really overreaching on this, and they really should be called out on it," he continued. 

Several other states in recent months have proposed similar laws limiting protections for gay, bisexual and transgender people. 

Pittenger believes the legal battle could make its way to the U.S. Supreme Court.

"I think this has all the important implications relative to the Separation of Powers Act, and this is maybe the pivotal issue that we use," Pittenger told CBN News. "We're going to have to have this fight with the president; if he wants to pick it on these grounds, so be it. That'll be where it is."

"He wants to pick a fight, and certainly the Left is driven toward (this) very progressive agenda, and we will welcome this fight to make sure that the people's interests and their desires are fully represented by the United States Congress," he said.

CBN News reached out to the Attorney General's office for comment. They have not responded to our inquiry.