On Friday , June 3 , 2011 , the US House of Representatives voted to rebuke President Obama for maintaining an American presence in the NATO operations in Libya , which they considered a violation of the War Powers Resolution . In '' The New York Times '' , an opinion piece by Yale Law Professor Bruce Ackerman stated that Obama 's position " lacks a solid legal foundation . And by adopting it , the White House has shattered the traditional legal process the executive branch has developed to sustain the rule of law over the past 75 years . " In late 2012 or early 2013 , at the direction of U.S. President Barack Obama , the Central Intelligence Agency ( CIA ) was put in charge of Timber Sycamore , a covert program to arm and train the rebels who were fighting against Syrian President Bashar Assad , while the State Department supplied the Free Syrian Army with non-lethal aid . Following the Use of chemical weapons in the Syrian Civil War on several occasions , including a well-publicized Ghouta chemical attack on 21 August 2013 , Obama asked Congress for authorization to use military force in Syria , which Congress rejected . Instead , Congress passed a bill that specified that the Defense Secretary was authorized " ... to provide assistance , including training , equipment , supplies , and sustainment , to appropriately vetted elements of the Syrian opposition and other appropriately vetted Syrian groups and individuals ... " The bill specifically prohibited the introduction of U.S. troops or other U.S. forces into hostilities . The bill said : In spite of the prohibition , President Obama , and later President Trump , introduced ground forces into Syria and the United States became fully engaged in the country , though these troops were primarily for training allied forces . On April 6 , 2017 , the United States launched 59 BGM-109 Tomahawk missiles at Shayrat airbase in Syria in response to Syria 's alleged use of chemical weapons . Constitutional scholar and law professor Stephen Vladeck has noted that the strike potentially violated the War Powers Resolution
Ghouta chemical attack
Ghouta chemical attack
War Powers Resolution