On the Nobel Peace Prize-winning constitutional law professor, President Obama, and his war against ISIS: Obama has given no indication that he intends to seek Congress’s authorization for airstrikes. There has been some talk of obtaining approval to send troops to train Iraqi forces, but Obama apparently thinks he doesn’t need any authorization to drop bombs from the sky with the aim of killing human beings—even in a country, Syria, where he plainly will have no permission from the sovereign to do so. (Bombing #ISIS in Syria would also violate international law absent approval of #Syria or the UN Security Council, but that is a separate matter, and Obama said he intends to address the Security Council on this in the coming weeks.) On Meet the Press this Sunday, Obama claimed, “I have the authorization that I need to protect the American people.” The host, Chuck Todd, didn’t press him on where that asserted authority comes from. Congress certainly has not given it. Under the #Constitution, whether to use military force is #Congress’s decision, not the president’s. The framers gave Congress the power “to declare war” and even to authorize lesser uses of force, through what were at the time called “letters of marque and reprisal.” nybooks/blogs/nyrblog/2014/sep/11/obama-isis-unauthorized-war/?insrc=wbll
Posted on: Sun, 14 Sep 2014 21:07:25 +0000
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