Senior Seminar, Part 4 of 12

Introduction

            This is the unedited paper I wrote for my senior seminar back in 2007.  I am posting it as a sort of trip down memory lane during our current apocalypse.

            I have become a better writer since creating this.

            I have become much better informed since writing this.

            I am a very different person than when I wrote this.

Full Introduction Here

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Congressional Role in War

There is in theory to be a cooperative or even dependent nature on the issue of foreign policy between the President and the Congress, with the Congress putting their final approval on the subject, and the President being the initial arbiter of the process.  It is stated in the Constitution The President shall have Power, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, to make Treaties, provided two thirds of the Senators present concur.[1]  But it is possible to have agreements that exist entirely off paper, free of congressional approval, cease fires being a very obvious example of this.

Since the Congress can make laws to enforce their role as declarers of war, something which has essentially become meaningless as it is very clear that military force requires no declaration of intent in order for it to take place; the Congress has made attempts to reinsert themselves into the position.

How does the effectiveness of this Congressional role define the Presidency’s relation to Congress concerning war?

The War Powers Resolution passed in 1973 over Presidential veto.  It was vetoed by the President who cited constitutional issues, and since that time this resolution has never been checked by the Supreme Court for constitutional legality.  Regardless of the acts actual testing, it is seemingly the only foothold Congress has left on the process of war waged by the United States.  Basing its arguments, as it so states within its first operative clause, on Section 8: “To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers, and all other Powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any Department or Officer thereof,” and also most clearly on the power “To declare War.”[2]

The Resolution states that the President must make the Congress active consultants and participants in the process of armed conflict, in effect restoring their position of declaring war in a less traditional channel.  However as no President has accepted this interpretation the Congress has not been used it the full capacity described within the resolution.  And since the Congress has yet to bring impeachment charges against any president for not following this law, it would seem that the Congress does not believe in the validity of the work either.

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[1] Constitution Article II, Section 2

[2] The War Resolution Act 1973