2 Top Lawyers Lost to Obama in Libya War Policy Debate

[Divernan]

Source: New York Times

WASHINGTON — 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, according to officials familiar with internal administration deliberations.

Jeh C. Johnson, the Pentagon general counsel, and Caroline D. Krass, the acting head of the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel, had told the White House that they believed that the United States military’s activities in the NATO-led air war amounted to “hostilities.” Under the War Powers Resolution, that would have required Mr. Obama to terminate or scale back the mission after May 20.

But Mr. Obama decided instead to adopt the legal analysis of several other senior members of his legal team — including the White House counsel, Robert Bauer, and the State Department legal adviser, Harold H. Koh — who argued that the United States military’s activities fell short of “hostilities.” Under that view, Mr. Obama needed no permission from Congress to continue the mission unchanged.

Presidents have the legal authority to override the legal conclusions of the Office of Legal Counsel and to act in a manner that is contrary to its advice, but it is extraordinarily rare for that to happen. Under normal circumstances, the office’s interpretation of the law is legally binding on the executive branch.






Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/?emc=na

[Divernan]

1. The comments following the Times article are both pro and con.

However, people there managed to express their opinions without the harsh obscenities or snide insults to other commentors which have become too common around here. It would be great if any comments people should choose to post on this thread could be civil.

[Maraya1969]

12. If someone posts something nasty to me now I am going to try and tell

them nicely that they don't have to talk that way.

I have made rude comments without meaning to OR meaning to but I realize that it is completely ineffectual and ruins my own particular influence.

Maybe we as a group can help people along while learning to write nicely.

[RC]

2. I thought we had an Presidential election and the Neo-cons were no longer in office?

Civil enough?

[EFerrari]

5. Looks like they've entered our lymphatic system. n/t

[cstanleytech]

6. Well it is their own fault since they didnt rein in the power of the president

when Bush was president and many people including myself said it was a really bad idea to go down the path they set us down regarding giving to much power to the office of president in the first place.

[Devil_Fish]

14. They are only complaining because it's a democratic black man. NT

[qazplm]

3. poor writing by Time\

if the president has the legal authority to override then it would seem to me that the OLCs legal interpretations are not binding on the executive branch because the president IS the executive branch.

[joshcryer]

4. I noticed that, too.

It's a weird way to phrase it, they should have said "are generally bound by the executive but can be overridden." Or something like that.

[Abq_Sarah]

7. If the criteria is whether or not Libya can fight back

Then I guess it's not "hostile" to beat the ever loving shit out of someone who is incapable of striking back.


Yes, Washington does believe we are completely and utterly stupid.

[ProgressIn2008]

8. War pigs. nt

[xchrom]

9. Bush attacks Iraq - not up to our par.

Obama attacks Libya -- not up to our par.

Something is illegal here.

[Fearless]

10. If he signs an executive order to continue the war he's no better than Bush.

Let's see what happens.

[GreenStormCloud]

11. We are bombing the crap out of Libya and it isn't "hostilities"?

I bet the Libyans have a different definition of that.

[izquierdista]

13. Obama using the Louis XIV Doctrine.

L'Etat, c'est moi.