MISREADING THE HISTORY OF PRESIDENTIAL WAR POWER, 1789–1860

[...]in Libya, President Barack Obama conducted a sustained bombing campaign that turned the tide in a civil war and enabled the overthrow of a long-reigning dictator, also without congressional authorization. Because both "national interest" and "nature, scope, and duration" are malleable terms, the President could continue expanding the definition of a limited military engagement, thereby involving the United States in increasingly large-scale conflicts. [...]OLC is likely correct that such actions fall within the President's inherent Article II authority. [...]the list-of-wars argument remains intact, allowing OLC to continue writing increasingly more expansive opinions about presidential war power. [...]Part VI discusses five incidents that involved conflicts with a state and likely went beyond Article II. [...]history is not "replete" with incidents that support OLC's interpretation of presidential war power.