Preview

War Powers Resolution Research Paper

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
290 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
War Powers Resolution Research Paper
According to the War Powers Resolution, the Commander in Chief can only send American personnel abroad to take military action against another country only with a declaration of war from Congress. However, according to “statutory authority” or in the case of an attack on the United States, the president reserves the right to take action against a sovereign country, given that the president has issued a forty-eight hour notice to Congress, and the personnel remain active for no longer than sixty days. This important resolution severely limits the power of the Commander in Chief, and lays within the system of checks of balances which is vitally integral to the United States government.

As to the constitutionality and given powers of the War Powers Resolution, the Resolution is entirely legal and constitutional in both principle and practice. While the president maintains the power of statutory authority, which as previously mentioned allows the president to take military acton barring a declaration of war from Congress, in this scenario, the president did not submit the necessary forty-eight hours’ notice to Congress, which forfeited his / her right to statutory authority, which is why I believe Congress to be in the right in this case.
…show more content…
It equips Congress with constitutional power over the president, and prohibits any one person from plunging the nation into war. In conclusion, the War Powers Resolution works well within the constitutional authority of Congress and strengthens the balance of powers among the branches of our government. In this scenario, the President violated the due process of issuing military action without the consent of Congress, and as a result, this case would be weighed in favor of

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Assess the view that, in practice, presidential power is restricted to issues relating to foreign policy.…

    • 713 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The question still remains however, why did it pass? McNamara in some sense does give an accurate answer when referring to the ambiguous language of both the constitution and the resolution itself. But, he still doesn’t analyze some of the other key factors such as the role of Senator Fulbright in the hearings. It was his assurance that “This resolution doesn’t mean a thing. Lyndon wants this to show he can be decisive and firm with the communists, too”, that would help persuade congress. Congress understood the breadth of the resolutions power but they didn’t for see that it would be an authorization for the escalation of…

    • 2585 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Ap Government Court Cases

    • 6581 Words
    • 27 Pages

    3. The Supreme Court decided that even though the executive order was on the shady side of the Constitution, it was justified because they were in a time of “emergency and peril”.…

    • 6581 Words
    • 27 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    1. The President shall be Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the Militia of the several States, when called into the actual Service of the United States.(Article II, section 2)…

    • 456 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Truman Vs Framer

    • 294 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The main general argument that Yoo makes in The Power of War and Peace: The Constitution and Foreign Affairs After 9/11, is that the President has the right to declare war. In regard to war making, the Framers went to different authorities such as John Locke for advice…

    • 294 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    My initial reaction would be to side with Congress. The War Powers Resolution allows the president to engage in an act of war without the consent of congress only in the case of an attack on the United States, or by “statutory authorization”. Based on this, the legislative branch seems to be in the right in this situation. I would ask the president questions pertaining to the goals of the US forces in the region, and questions to Congress such as to their opposition to the presidents actions.…

    • 88 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    It is an appropriate use of prerogative powers because Lincoln was acting for the public good. If for say, Lincoln were to have not increased the size of the army and navy, while congress was out of session, the North would have been at a sizable disadvantage when it came to fighting the South in the Civil War. This is because during the time that the North’s Congress was out of session the South was building up its military. In addition to this fact, during the time Congress was out of session, large numbers of sailors and soldiers in the North’s military forces resigned to take up arms for the Confederacy. Had Lincoln waited until Congress was back in session and taken the time to debate and pass a bill increasing the number of soldiers and sailors, it is almost certain that the Confederate flag would have been flying over the 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. However, due to Lincoln’s use of prerogative powers this ghastly situation was…

    • 908 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The resolution is different from how the constitution allows the United States to go to war because the congress allowed President Johnson's request to take “all necessary measures to repel any armed attack against the forces of the United States and to prevent further aggression”(…

    • 540 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Although only Congress has the right to authorise the use of the armed forces, if the president acts there is little Congress can do to restrain him.This is a power given to the President domestically, executing the power on an international scale gives the President a powerful image that asserts his/her dominance. An example would be Franklin Roosevelt. Roosevelt's four terms as president were marked by two of the largest threats to America; the Great Depression and World War II. The role President Roosevelt played during World War II showed complete dominance at an international scale, he can be seen to be one of the most influential Presidents that America has ever had. Franklin D Roosevelt was given the power to be Commander-In-Chief, as all Presidents do and had became an international figure because of…

    • 749 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The United States has actually not declared war since World War II. In Article I, section 8 of the U.S. Constitution, Congress has the power,"to declare war [and] grant letters of marque and reprisal."(archives.gov) But Article II,Section 2 provides that,"The president shall be Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States." (fed-soc.org) While it's clear that the intended action for Congress alone to declare war, presidents don’t necessarily act with them but rather on their own will and belief. Truth be told as well, many events were presidents acted on their own have occoured. For example, after President Harry Truman bypassed Congress to go to war in Korea, presidents have paid almost no attention to the constitutional requirements.…

    • 488 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    According to Section 2, Article 2, “The President shall be commander in chief of the Army and Navy of the United States” This reserves the President the right to make military decisions without the knowledge of Congress as long as Congress has approved the war.…

    • 544 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    War powers between the legislative and the executive branch is an important and complex issue in American national politics because there are multiple interpretations of what constitutes the appropriate relationship between the legislative and the executive branch in regard to war powers. Both Louis Fisher in his book, Presidential War Power and John Yoo in his book, The Power of War and Peace: The Constitution and Foreign Affairs After 9/11 focus on what is the appropriate sharing of war powers between the legislative and executive branch? Fisher and Yoo are both scholars in this area of study but have different opinions on what constitutes as sharing of war powers between the legislative and the executive branch. This paper will focus on…

    • 191 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Cited: Adler, David. “The Constitution and Presidential War-making.” The Constitution and the Conduct of American Foreign Policy. University Press of Kansas, 1996 183-226.…

    • 2492 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Executive Privilege

    • 2337 Words
    • 10 Pages

    In the past, the power of executive privilege has been used by Presidents to conceal information that has to do with foreign affairs and negotiations, military, national security issues as well as deliberations and policy making that is done between the President and his top aides. This power is only used when Congress asks the President or one of his top aides to produce all of the information pertaining to an event or situation. If the President then feels that parts of this information needs to be kept secret to protect the best interest of the public, or the other issues listed previously, then he will use executive privilege in order to not give that information to Congress. A huge part of executive privilege is to protect the deliberations and advice given by the President’s aides. When the President’s advisors give him advice, they need to be able to give him the best advice possible and if there is a chance that everything they said could be made public. For instance if the President and advisors are discussing what needs to be done in relation to a foreign power and one suggests to nuke them, one suggests a covert attack and one suggests a peaceful resolution. If the final decision is a peaceful resolution, and Congress asks for all of the information on the subject, then the President should use executive privilege to keep those other possible outcomes from going public, both to keep the public from getting out of control or uneasy and to keep the other country from finding out the other options and retaliating. This power ensures that the President’s advisors can be completely honest and say what needs to be said without being worried about their words being taken the wrong way or too harsh or hurt their image.…

    • 2337 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    In the United States our President has many powers that are granted to him when they are elected into office. They have the ability to change the budget, to either cut back on spending, or implement new programs to help their citizens. They can veto a bill that they think is not ready to be made law yet and send it back to congress for further evaluation. They can appoint Supreme Court Justices. They also are the Commander in Chief of all U.S. armies, and they even have the power to send troops over to foreign nations in times of hostility in some circumstances. There are many who believe that the powers of the president are sometimes abused, especially as the Commander in Chief. There have been several instances in our Nation’s history in which the President has been able to wiggle their way around the constitutional limitations that are given of the Commander in Chief. Even though the president is unable to actually declare war he can use his powers to advance a conflict. The article Congressional War Powers, The Commander in Chief and Senator John Mccain describes how this is achieved by stating “Technically only congress has the power to declare war but the President can act unilaterally to repel sudden attacks made on U.S. Soil” (Bowling, 2008, p. 1). Presidents use these executive powers to engage in a conflict that they believe needs to be settled in times of crisis. The Constitution has a system within-it that tries to grant separate but equal powers to all branches of government called checks and balances. Although this system of checks and balances is supposed to be followed, there are ways which certain branches of government can gain more power than others. Often the President is the one who abuses the system, and uses their executive powers for their own advantages. These powers granted to the President have been abused more and more throughout our Nation’s recent history and it needs to…

    • 2425 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays