President Obama recently authorized airstrikes against Libya in agreement with the UN. While this may come as good news for some -after all, Kadhafi has been slaughtering the rebels in his nation now, for some time -A problem arises. Can the President authorize military action without the consult of Congress?
No. He cannot constitutionally authorize an attack against Libya without Congressional support. Though the Constitution does declare the President the “Commander-in-Chief” (Article 2, section 2), it clearly grants Congress the power of “declaring war” (Article 1, Section 8). Obama’s use of airstrikes in Libya was in violation of the United States Constitution.
Now, this topic will almost certainly be compared to President George W. Bush’s military action against Iraq and Afghanistan, however the situations are different. Bush actually had Congressional approval for his action, Obama did not.
Declaring war against Libya may be argued as good or bad, and I’m not going to bother taking sides here, but I certainly am disappointed in Obama’s actions, which will -very likely -lead to a full-scale war.
A Renegade for Christ 
My guess is that the excuse provided is that because the U.S. is part of the U.N., that the authoritative declaration against Libya (by the U.N.) is seen legally as a declaration of war (equivalent to Congress). This Article (Article VI of the Constitution) is known as the Supremacy Clause, and has caused much confusion for people.
“This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land; and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding.”
Since the United States Federal Government entered into a legal treaty with the United Nations, it must therefore recognize any U.N. action. Thus if the U.N. declares “war” on Libya and orders an air strike, then President Obama must take those “orders” from the U.N. as if Congress had written them and declared war upon Libya.
Again, this is a highly debated issue. My views and understandings are based off of my Constitutional Law class with Dr. Michael Farris (Chancellor of Patrick Henry College and founder of Home School Legal Defense Association) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Farris
You said that because of the U.N. treaty (and the supremacy clause) ordered us to attack Libya then the argument is that we had to, am I right? (I’m just trying to clarify)
While I am sure I’m not as educated as you on the subject (I’m just beginning to study Con Law, from a textbook), Do you think that a treaty that is used to requires us to violate the Constitution would be considered valid? I understand the U.N. argument, but does not the Constitution remain above any treaty made in accordance with it? For that matter, if the treaty was made in observance of the Constitution, then how can it require us to declare war without following our legitmate process? On the flip side, If it wasn’t in accordance with the Constitution, why should we honor it?
Again, I’m not very well educated on this subject yet, but from my understanding, the U.N. argument doesn’t seem to have much force.
By the way, did the U.N. actual ORDER Obama to invade when he did? I understood it as a U.N. operation that we participated in, but I wasn’t aware we were required to participate.
That is the most controversial thing about the Supremacy Clause. It basically (although this is a very simplified explanation) overrides our traditional process in which we handle things.
Thus IF (and I meant it as a question earlier) the U.N. declares war on Libya, it is the same as Congress declaring war on Libya.
That is a key reason the framers of the Constitution were right when they warned us not to get entangled with foreign affairs. Because if we sign treaties with foreign political things (whether they be countries, groups, etc.) then according to the Supremacy Clause, we must honor it as if it is our own Constitution and our own law of the land.
If you can get your hands on Dr. Farris’ lecture CD and textbook, he does a fantastic job explaining it, and the possible problems that arise from such a situation.