Bill Clinton alluded to this, and if push-to-shove comes in the debt ceiling issue, this is President Obama's trump card. The House can contest it in the courts and my guess is that the US Supreme Court will grant certiorari and hear the case after the district and appellate courts hear the pleadings and rule (months or years from now).
Bottom line the United States has enough incoming revenue to pay its current obligations and will do so in spite of any political motivated debt ceiling.
There will be no default -- what we are seeing is a orchestrated drama and nothing more.