breaking the law.. breaking the law

[30ashopper]

President Obama may be on the brink of breaking the law.

At issue: The 1973 War Powers Act, which says if the president does not get congressional authorization 60 days after military action, the mission must stop within 30 days.

The president formally notified Congress about the mission in Libya with a letter on March 21, which makes Friday the 60-day deadline.

Inaction is angering lawmakers from both the left and the right who rarely agree on anything.

Rep. Brad Sherman, D-California, tells CNN he believes Obama is trying to "bring democracy to Libya while shredding the Constitution of the United States."

"He cannot continue what he is doing in Libya without congressional authorization. When a president defiantly violates the law, that really undercuts our efforts to urge other countries to have the rule of law," Sherman said.

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Kentucky, concurs.

"You could say, 'Well, we have a good president, he'll do the right thing.' Well, someday you may have a president who does the wrong thing, and that's why you have rules, because you can never count on people being good people," Paul told CNN.

He called it "appalling" and a "terrible precedent" to engage in military action without the people's representatives -- Congress -- debating it.

To be sure, presidents in both parties often ignored another part of the War Powers Act -- that the commander-in-chief should get congressional approval before any military action.

Still, in recent years, President Bush did seek and receive congressional authority for Afghanistan and Iraq prior to launching those missions.

http://www.cnn.com/2011/POLITICS/05/20/war.powers/

I wonder what the president will do? Today is the deadline after which he'll be in violation of the War Powers Act.

 

[scooterbug44]

Shucker darn - guess that means we have to get out of Libya in 30 days and NATO can't make us break our own laws to stay there.

 

[Lake View Too]

Since when does dropping a couple hundred tomahawk missiles on a bunch of radar sites constitute war?

 

[futurebeachbum]

Since when does dropping a couple hundred tomahawk missiles on a bunch of radar sites constitute war?

Yes. It may not sound like war, but it seems awfully close to "military action". Maybe its all being classified as a "live fire" exercise.