Feb 16, 2015
A New 60 Words?
As you may know, on February 12th, 2015, President Obama put a draft of a new AUMF authorizing force against ISIL in front of Congress.
After 6 months of declaring that the 2001 AUMF, the 2002 AUMF, and his Article II powers cover the force currently being used against ISIL, this broad new proposal struck some as overkill but seemed to others as too weak.
There is bound to be a lot of debate and shuffling back and forth of drafts, but some of the main questions people have for the new AUMF include:
Will this allow for ground troops?
How will "Associated Forces" now be defined?
Will the 2001 AUMF be sunset?
In this current draft the answers seem to be kind of, more broadly than ever, and no.
For much more thorough analysis and ongoing coverage, please keep an eye on Ben Wittes' Lawfare blog. And for those who really want to be in the know, check out this post by Jack Goldsmith.