Dennis Kucinich
As part of continuing congressional opposition to the U.S. intervention in Libya, Professor Jonathan Turley and a student litigation team from George Washington University Law School have
filed a lawsuit on behalf of a bipartisan group of 10 members of the House of Representatives. They
base their argument on the War Powers Act of 1973. The law requires that the president may not send troops into combat for more than 90 days without congressional consent.
Reps. Dennis Kucinich and Walter Jones continued their bipartisan quest to end the U.S. military’s participation in the conflict in Libya, filing a lawsuit [Wednesday] in federal court against President Obama to “challenge the commitment of the United States to war in Libya absent the required constitutional legal authority.”
The lawsuit challenges what the lawmakers see as “the executive branch’s circumvention of Congress and its use of international organizations such as the United Nations and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization to authorize the use of military force abroad, in violation of the Constitution.” ...
The lawsuit is signed by a bipartisan group of members of the House, including Kucinich (D-Ohio), Jones (R-North Carolina), Howard Coble (R-North Carolina), John Duncan (R-Tennessee), Roscoe Bartlett (R-Maryland), John Conyers (D-Michigan) Ron Paul (R-Texas), Michael Capuano (D-Massachusetts), Tim Johnson (R-Illinois) and Dan Burton (R-Indiana).
The lawsuit adds to pressure on the administration, including from an out-of-character dovishness among Republicans. On Tuesday, Speaker John Boehner challenged President Obama on the War Powers Act even though he himself had challenged the law's constitutionality.