President Obama’s speech was a full-throated defense of his deployment of U.S. military force, without congressional authorization, in a situation “when our safety is not threatened, but our interests and our values are.” The President added that he (not he and Congress, but he) will also “never hesitate to use our military swiftly, decisively, and unilaterally when necessary to defend our people, our homeland, our allies, and our core interests.” These statements, taken together, seem to repudiate Senator Obama’s 2007 claim that the President “does not have power under the Constitution to unilaterally authorize a military attack in a situation that does not involve stopping an actual or imminent threat to the nation.”
Continue reading Jack Goldsmith at Lawfare…
(photo credit: Official White House photo by Pete Souza)
