Throughout history, presidents and congresses have jockeyed for control over war powers. Article I of the Constitution grants Congress the exclusive authority to declare war, while Article II names the President as “Commander in Chief” of the army, navy and militia. The jockeying reached a watershed moment of congressional assertiveness with the passage of the 1973 War Powers Act. Since then, however, presidential war-making power has been in a state of near-constant expansion—an expansion only accelerated by overseas counterterrorism actions and recent presidential military actions in Libya and Syria.
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The solution to reinforcing congressional power over war-making is a simple parliamentary device that can be adopted by the House of Representatives, acting alone.
The absence of congressional authorization may not stop military action against Iran—but it likely means that any operation undertaken would be relatively small in scale.
A story about very expensive bird$h*t, or guano, and how one of the 19th century’s most important thinkers on war powers nearly stumbled the nation, figuratively speaking, into a giant pile of it.
On this date in 1854, the U.S. Navy bombarded and torched the town of Greytown, in present-day Nicaragua. The story behind a resulting federal court opinion reveals much about how presidential naval powers and congressional checks operated in the mid-19th century.
After Iran shot down a U.S. Navy Global Hawk, the Trump administration considered airstrikes but apparently settled for a cyber response instead. Here’s a primer on the legal issues involved.
And what can Congress do about it?
U.S. military officials have confirmed media reports that Iranian military forces successfully shot down a U.S. drone in the vicinity of the Persian Gulf. What does the law say about the situation and possible U.S. responses?
A 1962 Justice Department memo offers a rare glimpse of the legal rationale for covert warfare.
In 1957, Congress granted President Eisenhower authorization to use force in the Middle East. The law is still on the books 62 years later.
Sens. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) and Todd Young (R-Ind.) have introduced a bill that would revoke the 1991 and 2002 authorizations for use of military force in Iraq. The bill is below.