Lobel Testifies in Congress

While all of America questions why we got into and how we'll get out of the war in Iraq and every one of this year's presidential candidates is putting forth Iraq war exit plans, Congress is writing legislation to clarify the President's power to commit the United States to war in the first place. Who have they called upon for advice about drafting this legislation? Jules Lobel, Professor of Law at the University of Pittsburgh.

On Thursday April 10, 2008, the House Committee on Foreign Affairs' Subcommittee on International Organizations, Human Rights, and Oversight conducted a hearing to collect experts' thoughts about amending the existing and undeniably ineffective War Powers Act. Professor Lobel, one of five witnesses to testify, was introduced by Congressman and Chair Bill Delahunt as "the leading American litigator on war powers".

Professor Lobel's testimony  reminded the representatives of the Constitutional framers' insistence that Congress, not the President, should decide when the country should enter into war and that U.S. presidents are also legally required to have approval from the UN Security Council before entering into a war. Professor Lobel recommended that a reformed War Powers Act do away with the current provision of a 60-day period between the time a President can enter into war and when Congress must declare war. Instead, Congress must declare war before the President can order troops to begin fighting.

He very strongly asserted that the decision to go to war must be made by the combined independent minds of congressional representatives rather than by the president alone and he recommended that the new law enforce the old law's mandate that silence or inaction from Congress cannot be interpreted as approval of presdiential engagement in war. Finally, he suggested that because courts are typically responsible for interpreting statutes, private citizens, particularly soldiers, be allowed to sue the President for violating the War Powers Act.

See the video of this hearing. Read the testimony online. Read Professor Lobel's profile.