The original content of Democracy Now! Headlines appears under the Creative
Commons BY-NC-ND 3.0 License (United States). For more, including their other
shows and media, visit www.democracynow.org.
June 20, 2011

Obama Rejects Senior Legal Advice to Continue Libya War Without Congressional Authorization 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------



The New York Times has revealed President Obama rejected the views of
top lawyers at the Pentagon and the U.S. Department of Justice when he
decided he had the legal authority to continue U.S. war in Libya without
congressional authorization. The Pentagon general counsel, Jeh Johnson,
and Caroline Krass, the acting head of the Justice Department’s Office
of Legal Counsel, had told the White House that under the War Powers Act
of 1973, Obama should have terminated or scaled back the mission after
May 20. The President has the legal authority to override such legal
conclusions, but the Times reports it is extraordinarily rare for it to
happen. In an interview on PBS Newshour, Senate Majority Leader Harry
Reid said he supported the President's view.

	
		
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid: “The War Powers Act has no
application to what’s going on in Libya.”

	

	
		
Jim Lehrer: “None?”

	

	
		
Senator Reid: “I don’t believe so. You know, we did an authorization
for Afghanistan. We did one for Iraq. But we have no troops on the
ground there, and this thing’s going to be over before you know it
anyway, so I think it’s not necessary.”

	


.