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ALEXBRANDON—THEASSOCIATEDPRESS The west front of the U.S. Capitol is seen under repair on Wednesday in Washington. ByEricaWerner The Associated Press WASHINGTON Congressio- nal proceedings are rou- tinely convoluted, often in- scrutable and sometimes bizarre. Even by those stan- dards, the upcoming vote on the Iran nuclear deal stands out as particularly bewildering. It's a situation, by design, where the Democratic mi- nority will rule the Repub- lican majority. The winners of the initial vote will end up the losers. And President Barack Obama stands to be repu- diated by at least one cham- ber of Congress on his top foreign policy priority — yet will emerge triumphant in the end. A guide to a peculiarly only-in-Washington spec- tacle, coming this week to the floor of the House and Senate. What'sthedeal? At issue is the agreement signed in July by the U.S., Iran and five world powers: China, France, Russia, Brit- ain and Germany. The ac- cord will provide Iran hun- dreds of billions of dollars in relief from international sanctions in exchange for a decade of constraints on the country's nuclear program. The deal is unanimously opposed by congressional Republicans and by the leaders of Israel, who fear a newly enriched Iran could wreakhavocacrosstheMid- dle East. The White House strongly supports it; so do most Democrats, though in some cases reluctantly. Take that, president The White House first tried to cut the deal with- out getting Congress in- volved, viewing it as an ex- ecutive branch agreement, rather than a formal treaty requiring approval by two- thirds of the Senate. That did not go over well with lawmakers of either party. After much debate and controversy, the House and the Senate in May over- whelmingly passed the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act, giving Congress the op- portunity to review the deal and enact a resolution of disapproval that would bar the president from suspend- ing congressional sanctions on Iran. The White House reluctantly went along with the legislation after some language was softened and once it became clear the measure would command veto-proof majorities. Winning = losing Ironically, the resolu- tion of disapproval ended up giving supporters of the deal the upper hand legisla- tively — in an upside-down sort of way. The resolution is ex- pected to come to a vote in the House and the Senate in the week ahead. In the House, it is cer- tain to pass. Republicans will vote for it unanimously and the Democratic minor- ity is powerless to block it. In the Senate, the out- come is uncertain. Sixty of 100 votes will be needed for the resolution to advance to a final vote. Republicans command 54 votes, and just three Democratic senators so far have announced their opposition to the accord. So Democratic and inde- pendent supporters may be able to muster the 41 votes needed to filibuster the res- olution, or block a vote on fi- nal passage. But even if the disap- proval resolution does pass both chambers and makes it to Obama's desk, the pres- ident has promised a veto. It takes a two-thirds vote in the House and the Sen- ate to override a presiden- tial veto. That effectively makes it possible for just one-third of lawmakers in one chamber of Congress to green-light the deal by sus- taining Obama's veto. The votes are already there to do that, in both chambers. So? When the House rejects the Iran nuclear deal this week, and even if the Sen- ate does, too, Obama and his Democratic allies can rest easy knowing that the president will resort to a veto, the Democratic mi- nority will back him up — and there's nothing Repub- licans can do about it, ex- cept fume. Fume they have. "The president may be able to sustain a veto with the tepid, restricted and partisan support of one- third of one House of Con- gress over Americans' bi- partisan opposition," Sen- ate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., com- plained when Democrats locked up the 34 Senate votes this month to sustain Obama's veto. At the same time, the upside-down situation has led to some conspiratorial suggestions on the left that Republicans are secretly happy they cannot block the deal, because this way they can avoid the uncertain out- come and potential interna- tional backlash were that to happen. A guide to Congress' vote on Iran nuke deal WASHINGTON By Adam Beam The Associated Press LEXINGTON, KY. Attorneys for the Kentucky clerk who was jailed last week because of her refusal to issue mar- riage licenses to gay couples said Monday they have filed an emergency motion with a federal court that they hope will result in Kim Da- vis' freedom. The filing seeks to have KentuckyGov.SteveBeshear accommodate Davis' "reli- gious conviction," and not compel her to grant licenses togaycouples,LibertyCoun- sel said in a statement. "The motion requests an injunction pending appeal for an exemption from the Governor's mandate that all county clerks issue marriage licenses," said the statement by Liberty Counsel, which is representing Davis. The same injunction re- questwasdeniedlastmonth by U.S. District Judge David Bunning, who jailed Davis on Thursday. Charla Bansley, commu- nications director for Lib- erty Counsel, said Davis could be released from jail immediately if the motion were granted by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit ordering Bes- hear to issue Davis an "ac- commodation" — allowing her to remove her name and title from official marriage certificates issued in Rowan County. By doing that, Davis would not be sanctioning any same-sex unions and her conscience would be satisfied, they say. "If there was an accom- modation, she would be re- leased (from jail) because she would no longer be in contempt," Bansley said. On Sunday, about 30 pro- testers lined the sidewalk outside Bunning's home in Fort Thomas, Kentucky, carrying signs that read "Free Kim Davis." Fort Thomas Police Lt. Casey Kilgore said the group gath- ered around 2 p.m., and the protest stretched on several hours. He said the group sang and waved their signs; they broke no laws and no one had been arrested. He did not know if Bunning was home. Davis, an apostolic Chris- tian, says gay marriage is a sin. She also says it would be a sin for her to issue a marriage license to a same- sex couple because the li- censes are issued under her authority. She tried in vain to have state lawmak- ers change the law as a le- gal challenge to Kentucky's same-sex marriage ban wound its way through the federal appeals court. Davis stopped issuing all marriage licenses in June the day after the U.S. Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage nation- wide. Two gay couples and two straight couples sued her. Judge Bunning ordered Davis to issue the licenses and the Supreme Court up- held his ruling. But Davis still refused to do it, saying she could not betray her conscience or her God. REFUSAL TO ISSUE MARRIAGE LICENSES Ke nt uc ky cl er k ap pe al s he r ja il in g JACQUELYN MARTIN — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky speaks during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington. By Jonathan Drew The Associated Press RALEIGH, N.C. Military prosecutors have reached into a section of military law seldom used since World War II in the polit- ically fraught case against Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, the soldier held prisoner for years by the Taliban af- ter leaving his post in Af- ghanistan. Observers wondered for months if Bergdahl would be charged with desertion after the deal brokered by the U.S. to bring him home. He was — but he was also charged with misbehavior before the enemy, a much rarer offense that carries a stiffer potential penalty in this case. "I've never seen it charged," Walter Huff- man, a retired major gen- eral who served as the Ar- my's top lawyer, said of the misbehavior charge. "It's not something you find in common everyday practice in the military." Bergdahl could face a life sentence if convicted of the charge, which ac- cuses him of endangering fellow soldiers when he "left without authority; and wrongfully caused search and recovery oper- ations." Huffman and others say the misbehavior charge al- lows authorities to allege that Bergdahl not only left his unit with one less sol- dier, but that his deliber- ate action put soldiers who searched for him in harm's way. The Pentagon has said there is no evidence anyone died searching for Berg- dahl. "You're able to say that what he did had a particu- lar impact or put particu- lar people at risk. It is less generic than just quitting," said Lawrence Morris, a retired Army colonel who served as the branch's top prosecutor and top public defender. The Obama adminis- tration has been criticized both for agreeing to release five Taliban operatives from the Guantanamo Bay prison and for heralding Bergdahl's return to the U.S. with an announce- ment in the White House Rose Garden. The admin- istration stood by the way it secured his release even after the charges were an- nounced. The military has sched- uled an initial court ap- pearance known as an Ar- ticle 32 hearing for Berg- dahl on Sept. 17 at Fort Sam Houston, Texas. The proceeding is similar to a civilian grand jury, and af- terward the case could be referred to a court-martial and go to trial. Misbehavior before the enemy was used hundreds of times during World War II, but scholars say its use appears to have dwindled in conflicts since then. Mis- behavior before the enemy cases were tried at least 494 times for soldiers in Europe between 1942 and 1945, according to a Mili- tary Law Review article. Legal databases and me- dia accounts turn up only a few misbehavior cases since 2001 when fighting began in Afghanistan, fol- lowed by Iraq less than two years later. By contrast, sta- tistics show the U.S. Army prosecuted about 1,900 de- sertion cases between 2001 and the end of 2014. The misbehavior charge is included in Article 99 of the military justice code, which is best known for its use to prosecute cases of cowardice. However, Article 99 encompasses nine different offenses in- cluding several not neces- sarily motivated by cow- ardice, such as causing a false alarm or endanger- ing one's unit — the charge Bergdahl faces. The complexity of Arti- cle 99 may be one reason it's not frequently used, said Morris, who published a book on the military jus- tice system. "It is of course more complicated than the de- sertion charge, not as well understood, a higher bur- den on the government to prove," he said. MISBEHAVIOR BEFORE THE ENEMY Mi li ta ry s el ec ts r ar el y us ed charge for Bergdahl case U.S. ARMY — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl is the soldier held prisoner for years by the Taliban a er leaving his post in Afghanistan. Please help sponsor a classroom subscription Call Kathy at (530) 737-5047 to find out how. 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