PHILADELPHIA: Our Founding Fathers gather to list optional suggestions to the Executive Branch on what they ought not to do.
In a stunning display of Virginia Republican lunacy, 7th District Rep. Eric Cantor proclaimed on Hardball today that the President has the sole authority to declare war.
Small wonder we’re in such a big mess. I know the Constitution better than members of Congress.
You see, just now on Hardball, Cantor, after recovering from the awkwardness of his initial assertion that soldiers in the field could determine whether or not the U.S. Army could invade Iran (presumably from their present positions in Iraq), declared that the President, in his position of Commander-in-Chief, had the sole authority to decide whether or not our forces can attack Iran.
Wrap your mind around that. The C-in-C has the sole authority to “decide” whether we go to war with a sovreign country. As if all of Article I of the Constitution were a “serving suggestion” like the appetizing pictures on the front of a TV dinner package.
When an incredulous Chris Matthews asked Cantor why then the president went to Congress to get authorization before going into Iraq, Cantor said that Junior only did it on the advice of counsel, implying that it would have been perfectly alright had we committed troops, tanks, planes, ships and all those KBR laundry trucks on Junior’s say-so alone.
From the Military Commissions Act to the Iraq War, Bush’s quest to transform our form of government from a balance between the three branches to an overpowering unitary executive has been aided and abetted by members of Congress who either have not read the Constitution, or are too spineless to care. Hello? Didn’t you swear to uphold the Constitution when we sent you to office?
Please. Stop embarrassing me. I want to be proud that I live in Virginia.
For your convenience, here it is:
“The Congress shall have Power. . .To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water. . .”
–United States Constitution, Article I, Section 8
*Ahem*. Congress. Has. The. Power. To. Declare. War.
3 Comments
Attention Comrades,
Please visit http://ministryoflove.wordpress.com to learn about our creative protest of the Military Commissions Act, or just watch our video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uOq5yHDkQgY
Regards,
O’Brien
We’re already in a de facto war with Iran - it’s just happening in Iraq. Notwithstanding the BS in the Iraq Study Group about how the Iranians are desirous of a “stable Iraq,” they’ve been fomenting chaos through their intelligence apparatus and the Rev. Guard, killing American soldiers along the way. Seems to me Bush might as well take advantage of the situation as a justification for dropping a few bunker busters on their reactors/centrifuges.
I’ve always liked Art. I Sec. 8, but have you ever heard of Art. II, Sec. 2? It’s another one of my favorites. Madison et al were purposefully ambiguous on Constitution’s war-making powers, but the experience of history, IMO, is that the President can make war w/out congressional approval. Clinton sure thought so when he bombed the Serbs w/out congressional or UN approval.
The text, structure and history of the Constitution establish that the Founders entrusted the President with the primary responsibility, and therefore, the power, to use military forces in situations when national security is in peril. Article II, Section 2 states that the “President shall be Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States….”
This section of the Constitution gives the President plenary power to use military fore in response to threats around the world. See Johnson v. Eisentrager, 339 U.S. 763,789 (1950) (holding that the President has authority to deploy United States armed forces abroad or to any particular region); see Loving v. U.S., 517 U.S. 748, 776 (1996) (acknowledging that the powers of the Commander in Chief are ‘clearly extensive’); see also Maul v. U.S., 274 U.S. 501, 515-16 (1927); Mass. v. Laird, 451 F.2d 26, 32 (1st Cir. 1971) (holding that the President has the power to station forces abroad); see also Authority to Use U.S. Military Forces in Somolia, 16 Op. O.L.C. 6 (1992).
Indeed, as you can see, the weight of authority as propounded by the United States Supreme Court and Circuit Courts holds that the President’s powers as Commander in Chief are plenary.
You misread Article II and misunderstand the nature of a declaration of war. Declaring war is not tantamount to making war. Indeed, the Constitutional Convention specifically amended the working draft of the Constitution that had given Congress the power to “make” war. When it took up this clause on August 17, 1787, the Convention voted to change the clause from “make” to “declare.” See 2 The Records of the Federal Convention of 1787, at 318-319. Many of the Founders recognised that without the change, the Constitution would limit the President’s ability to respond to emergency situations.
The Framing generation well understood that declarations of war were obsolete. No less than Alexander Hamilton noted that “the ceremony of a formal denunciation of war has of late fallen into disuse.” See the Federal No. 25, at 133. Instead, of serving as authorization to begin hostilities, a declaration of war was only necessary to “perfect” a conflict under international law. Given this context, it is clear that Congress’s power to declare war does not constrain a President’s independent and plenary constitutional authority over the use of military force.
The United States Supreme Court is the final arbiter of Constitution — not Congress.
Clearly, Congress has the power of the purse strings. Yet, the President is fully vested with authority to strike Iran with airstrikes should that become necessary.
If international efforts fail, military action will be necessary to prevent Iran from developing nuclear capability. When that day comes, who knows.
The issue of Iran’s involvement in Iraq should not be confused with the issue of nuclear capability.
To deal effectively with Iran, we must continue with international pressure. However, we must also keep all options on the table.
Some American President, whether it be Bush, Clinton, McCain or Guliani will have to deal with Iran sooner or later.