War Powers
Remembering the Bay of Pigs: Law and Covert War
Matthew Waxman Tue, Apr 16, 2019, 8:00 AM
A 1962 Justice Department memo offers a rare glimpse of the legal rationale for covert warfare.
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War Powers
Remembering Eisenhower’s Formosa AUMF
Matthew Waxman Tue, Jan 29, 2019, 8:34 AM
Eisenhower believed that a congressional authorization of force, including the possible use of nuclear weapons, to protect Taiwan from Communist China would help prevent all-out war from breaking out across the Taiwan Strait.
War Powers
Remembering the Ludlow Amendment
Matthew Waxman Thu, Jan 10, 2019, 8:00 AM
Jan. 10 marks 81 years since Congress defeated a proposed constitutional amendment to add a referendum requirement to the war declaration power.
War Powers
Bill Barr on War Powers: Insights From his 2001 Oral History Interview
Robert Chesney Wed, Dec 12, 2018, 8:20 AM
A 2001 interview with the former and soon-to-be attorney general sheds light on his views regarding the Constitution’s allocation of war powers.
War Powers
NATO and War Powers: Remembering the ‘Great Debate’ of the 1950s
Matthew Waxman Wed, Jul 11, 2018, 6:30 AM
How a dispute between Harry Truman and congressional skeptics established presidential authorities that are unquestioned today.
War Powers
Document: White House Letter of Notice to Congress on Syria Strike
Matthew Kahn Tue, Apr 17, 2018, 10:07 AM
The White House has released the following text of a letter sent to the speaker of the House and president pro tempore of the Senate to serve as notice of military engagement in Syria on April 13, consistent with Section 4(1) of the War Powers Resolution.
Dear Mr. Speaker: (Dear Mr. President:)
War Powers
Bad Legal Arguments for the Syria Airstrikes
Jack Goldsmith, Oona Hathaway Sat, Apr 14, 2018, 1:54 PM
There is no apparent domestic or international legal authority for the airstrikes conducted in Syria on April 14.
War Powers
Live Stream: Senate Foreign Relations Committee Hearing on Use of Force
Matthew Kahn Wed, Dec 13, 2017, 10:10 AM
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee is holding a hearing Wednesday morning at 9:30 a.m. on "Using Force: Strategic, Political, and Legal Considerations." The committee will hear testimony from the following witnesses:
War Powers
War Powers and the Su-22 Episode: Third-Party Defense of Coalition Partners
Robert Chesney Tue, Jun 20, 2017, 9:51 AM
Early Sunday evening, a US Navy F/A-18 Super Hornet shot down a Syrian Air Force Su-22 that had just completed a bombing run targeting US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in the Raqqa region. The episode raises important questions under the U.N. Charter (see Adil Ahmad Haque’s analysis here). But what about U.S. domestic law?
War Powers
Toward Transparency of Legal Position and Process and a White House Obligation to Disclose
Bob Bauer Wed, Apr 12, 2017, 1:47 PM
The President's responsibility to explain the legal basis for military actions such as the Syria missile strikes, and the process used to formulate that legal basis, is dangerously undefined.