The New York Times had the following to say regarding the Commander in Chief’s ordering of U.S. participation in the Libyan hostilities.
President Obama rejected the views of top lawyers at the Pentagon and the Justice Department when he [Obama] decided that he had the legal authority to continue American military participation in the air war in Libya without Congressional authorization.
Jeh C. Johnson, the Pentagon general counsel, and Caroline D. Krass, the acting head of the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel, had told the White House that they believed that the United States military’s activities in the NATO-led air war amounted to “hostilities.” [that] required Mr. Obama to terminate or scale back the mission after May 20.
Presidents have the legal authority to override the legal conclusions of the Office of Legal Counsel and to act in a manner that is contrary to its advice, but it is extraordinarily rare for that to happen. Under normal circumstances, the office’s interpretation of the law is legally binding on the executive branch.
It was strictly a matter of copy and paste from NY Times to the RandomThots post other than minor editing, within the brackets, for clarity. You can read the original article by clicking here.
My question is – what would you have written for a headline? Perhaps “President Defies Legal Opinion of Government Counsel’? Or how about ”Obama Acts Contrary to Law According to Department of Justice and Pentagon Attorney”. As a former headline copy writer, I can see that’s too long. Here’s my choice, “Obama Decline to Obey the Law”.
The Times headline — “2 Top Lawyers Lost to Obama in Libya War Policy Debate”.
RANDOM THOTS 
Sounds good to me.
I’d go with Obama above the law – declines legal advice