Looks like United States Army Captain Nathan Michael Smith never, ever wants to be a general.

Or maybe he’s thinking with the regime change he’ll get rewarded for doing the following, which is completely off-the-wall and batsh*t but without further ado …

This via The New York Times:

A 28-year-old Army officer on Wednesday suedPresident Obama over the legality of the war against the Islamic State, setting up a test of Mr. Obama’s disputed claim that he needs no new legal authority from Congress to order the military to wage that deepening mission.

… Smith, an intelligence officer stationed in Kuwait, voiced strong support for fighting the Islamic State but, citing his “conscience” and his vow to uphold the Constitution, he said he believed that the mission lacked proper authorization from Congress.

“To honor my oath, I am asking the court to tell the president that he must get proper authority from Congress, under the War Powers Resolution, to wage the war against ISIS in Iraq and Syria,” he wrote.

What’s the equivalent to this? Robin suing Batman? Ernie suing Bert? Chewbacca suing Hans Solo?

In a way, yes, but in other ways, no. This is America, not Sesame Street or Gotham or even space, so one is afforded the right to contest something one thinks doesn’t fly with what the Constitution has laid out.

But …

See, Obama says he has the authority to wage war against the ISIS (Islamic State, IS, ISIL, Daesh, etc.) terrorists because the power was given after September 11, 2001, to fight those responsible for the atrocities, and it was indeed approved by Congress. However, there’s an argument that ISIS has nothing to do with al-Qaeda (who brought down the Twin Towers while under the leadership of Osama bin Laden) and that Washington is milking that old authorization.

Of course, the White House and company defense that as well, with this (again from the NYT):

The administration has countered that its position is legitimate because the Islamic State used to be a Qaeda affiliate in Iraq during the Iraq war. In anApril 2015 speech, Stephen Preston, then the top Pentagon lawyer, argued that the fact that Al Qaeda splintered after the death of Osama bin Laden did not mean that the authority to keep fighting each successor faction came to an end.

Administration officials have also said the fight against the Islamic State is covered separately by the 2002 authorization President George W. Bush obtained from Congress for the invasion of Iraq, although they are not relying on it.

In the time since the ISIS fight started, the executive branch has asked Congress to draw up a new authorization, one that specifically mentions that they’re behind the war against the terror organization. They haven’t done it. They have, however, agreed to throw money in the fight’s direction.

David Remes and Yale Law School professor Bruce Ackerman are defending the Army captain in court.

According to those around him in the White House (and some that were in the past) Obama went with the excuse that the ISIS fight was an extension of the 9/11 fight because he had no confidence that a Republican-controlled House could agree on a war authorization he drew up in any reasonable amount of time.

If he didn’t extend the old authorization, it could’ve come at odds with the War Power Resolution, which was passed soon after the Vietnam War and says that a president has to pull back all deployments in a hostile region after 60 days (which Obama went against in Libya a few years ago).

The two major obstacles for Smith and his lawyers? These (again via the NYT):

Mr. Goldsmith said Captain Smith faced many other hurdles, including precedents that suggest that when Congress appropriates money for a conflict it has implicitly authorized it. He also predicted that if a court did rule that the conflict was illegal, Congress would authorize the fight to continue – perhaps giving it broader scope than Mr. Obama has wanted.

Their win, it seems, would be to push Congress to be on the same page with the White House, on the record. Something, sadly, that hasn’t happened in years.