Goldsmith: “Don’t blame the President for doing something legally sketchy when he is exercising clear authorities.”

July 20th, 2015

Jack Goldsmith writes that the President is doing nothing by seeking a vote from the U.N. Security Council on the Iran deal before the 60-day review period afforded to Congress under the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act.

The President’s team cleverly stitched together the President’s authority to lift domestic sanctions, his authority to make political agreements, and his authority to vote for the United States in the Security Council, in order to make sure the Iran Deal would stick unless supermajorities of Congress reject it.  Don’t blame the President for doing something legally sketchy when he is exercising clear authorities.  And don’t blame the Iran Review Act for seeking to delay the President from exercising some of these authorities.

Isn’t this just the mantra of the Obama Presidency? Although, in my estimation, the “sketchiness” of the action far exceeds the “clarity” of authorities.