Libya(?) and the Case for a New AUMF
While we appreciate Ben's answer to our question (and share his view that we’re reaching the point of the conversation where everything has been said and everyone has said it), we still fail to understand how the Libya example illuminates what Ben—and Bobby, Jack, and Matt—think are the “problematic” aspects of an approach that requires the Executive to go to Congress if and when a specific situation arises that justifies a new authorization for the use of force.
If the Libya example is meant to highlight their
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While we appreciate Ben's answer to our question (and share his view that we’re reaching the point of the conversation where everything has been said and everyone has said it), we still fail to understand how the Libya example illuminates what Ben—and Bobby, Jack, and Matt—think are the “problematic” aspects of an approach that requires the Executive to go to Congress if and when a specific situation arises that justifies a new authorization for the use of force.
If the Libya example is meant to highlight their purported concerns over broadening (and potentially excessive) uses of force without clear congressional authorization, we’re baffled as to how their proposal—and its expansive delegation to the President of the power to determine when future use of force authorizations are appropriate—will “restrain military actions that presidents want to take and believe are in the national interest.” If, by contrast, they’re worried that the Executive might be “reluctant” to use force when it is appropriate and necessary without such congressional intervention, as they state in their initial paper, then Libya is in fact the perfect rejoinder.
Steve Vladeck is a professor of law at the Georgetown University Law Center. A 2004 graduate of Yale Law School, Steve clerked for Judge Marsha Berzon on the Ninth Circuit and Judge Rosemary Barkett on the Eleventh Circuit. In addition to serving as a senior editor of the Journal of National Security Law & Policy, Steve is also the co-editor of Aspen Publishers’ leading National Security Law and Counterterrorism Law casebooks.
Jen Daskal is a Partner at Venable LLP. She is a national security legal and policy expert, with years of experience managing crisis, mitigating risk, and working at the intersection of technology, policy and law. From October 2023 to January 2025, Daskal was the Deputy Homeland Security Advisor at the White House. She also previously served as the Principal Deputy Legal Advisor at the National Security Council, Acting General Counsel at the Department of Homeland Security, and counsel to the Assistant Attorney General for National Security at the Department of Justice. She has written extensively on issues of data security and data privacy, testified multiple times before Congress, and published numerous journal articles and op-eds.
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