Free Republic

Did Obama Overstep In Libya? Noted Lawyer David Rivkin Has Answer International law expert to host Federalist Society teleforum on Libyan debate Published on June 21, 2011 by Brent Baldwin (OfficialWire) WASHINGTON, D.C. (USA) OfficialWire PR News Bureau 1 Constitutional lawyer David Rivkin Former White House lawyer, David B. Rivkin, Jr. has written extensively about the powers granted to presidents by the U.S. Constitution. Rivkin, the lawyer who successfully initiated the constitutional debate on the 2010 Affordable Care Act (“ObamaCare”), has achieved renown as one of the nation’s “staunchest defenders of the Constitution.” His legal opinions stem not from a...

Charlie Savage has the amazing story that President Obama “rejected the views of top lawyers at the Pentagon and the Justice Department when he decided that he had the legal authority to continue American military participation in the air war in Libya without Congressional authorization.” The Acting head of the Office of Legal Counsel, Caroline Krass, and the General Counsel of the Department of Defense, Jeh Johnson, advised the President that military activities in Libya constituted “hostilities” under the War Powers Resolution and thus Section 5(b) of the WPR required him to terminate or scale back the mission after May...

Over at the Lawfare blog, Jack Goldsmith has some thoughts on the Obama administration’s war powers argument. Whatever you think of the War Powers Act, Goldsmith’s second point is of particular interest: The Administration argues that its operation is legitimated and limited by the U.N. Security Council Resolution. It does not really explain why it thinks this. But in any event, the “no danger to troops” theory, combined with the heavy reliance on the Security Council Resolution, suggest that the Administration is creating a principle of unilateral presidential war power for U.N.-sponsored interventions from a distance. In practice, this principle...

Reflecting frustration at NATO's inability to achieve quick results in a campaign some had forecast would be over in days or weeks, the U.S. defense secretary rounded on European allies last week for failing to back the mission the alliance took over in late March. "The mightiest military alliance in history is only 11 weeks into an operation against a poorly armed regime in a sparsely populated country," Robert Gates said, "yet many allies are beginning to run short of munitions, requiring the U.S., once more, to make up the difference." Now it's not only bombs, but the planes to...

"The President does not have power under the Constitution to unilaterally authorize a military attack in a situation that does not involve stopping an actual or imminent threat to the nation," then-presidential candidate Barack Obama said in December 2007. What a difference a change of job title makes. "Let's just call a spade a spade. A no-fly zone begins with an attack on Libya," said Defense Secretary Robert Gates three weeks before President Obama ordered a no-fly zone over -- and other military action against -- Libya. Like many anti-Iraq War/Bush-is-a-warmonger critics, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., supports the...

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama said he was setting clear and unmistakable terms for the U.S. role in Libya: It would be limited, lasting days, not weeks, and its purpose was to protect Libyan citizens. But that's not the way it's turned out. Less than a week later, the mission has been clouded by confusion and questions about who's in charge and who's doing what — all while the killing of civilians is going on. The Pentagon claims success in establishing an effective no-fly zone over much of Libya that has grounded Col. Moammar Gadhafi's aging air force. But Gadhafi's...

You know the old song, “Where have all the flowers gone?” What I want to know is, where have all the moonbats gone? The preposterous president these clueless trustafarians elected has now started a war with no congressional authorization and exactly one resolution from the United Nations. George Bush got 17 U.N. resolutions before invading Iraq and the limousine liberals sneered that it was a “rush to war.”