Give Dennis Kucinich credit for tenacity. Having been thwarted by the House of Representatives’ leadership in his attempt to get the House to pass a resolution demanding an end to President Barack Obama’s unconstitutional war in Libya, the Ohio Democrat, along with nine other Congressmen, is suing Obama and Defense Secretary Robert Gates in federal court in hopes of putting a stop to the United States’ involvement in the NATO operation.
The other plaintiffs in the lawsuit are Reps. Walter Jones (R-N.C.), Howard Coble (R-N.C.), John Duncan (R-Tenn.), Roscoe Bartlett (R-Md.), John Conyers (D-Mich.), Ron Paul (R-Texas), Michael Capuano (D-Mass.), Tim Johnson (R-Ill.), and Dan Burton (R-Ind.). They are being represented by George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley.
Their 36-page complaint cogently and thoroughly makes the case that Obama’s military action is indeed a war, that it was undertaken and is being funded in violation of the U.S. Constitution, that the administration has failed to satisfy the requirements of the War Powers Resolution, and that therefore the court should order the President to “suspend military operations in Libya absent a declaration of war from Congress.”
The Congressmen would certainly seem to have an open-and-shut case against the Obama administration — one that would probably prevail easily if it went to trial. Unfortunately, courts have previously ruled that members of Congress do not have standing to sue the executive branch, so the court could dismiss this case on similar grounds.
