War Powers Legislation

Two separate but closely related issues confront Congress each time the Pres. introduces armed forces into a situation abroad that could lead to their involvement in hostilities. One issue concerns the division of war powers between the Pres. and Congress, whether the use of armed forces falls within the purview of the congressional power to declare war and the War Powers Resolution (WPR). The other issue is whether or not Congress concurs in the action. This report deals with congressional authorization for military action, and the application and effectiveness of the WPR. Contents of this report: Recent Developments; Background and Analysis; U.N. Actions; Former Yugoslavia/Bosnia; Kosovo; Iraq: Post 1991; Haiti; and Somalia.

"An important book . . . that I wish every member of Congress and would-be president would carefully study." -- George McGovern "A timely and valuable study that makes a useful contribution to preserving the Constitution and our hopes for survival." -- Journal of American History "To Chain the Dog of War does an excellent job of putting together some very complex material, and it comes out at a most propitious time." -- Arthur S. Miller, Professor of Law, George Washington University "A most thorough study. . . . it would be useful is this book could be prescribed to our decision-makers as required reading." -- Louis B. Sohn, University of Georgia, School of Law

The Constitution of the United States divides war powers between the executive and legislative branches to guard against ill-advised or unnecessary military action. This division of powers compels both branches to hold each other accountable and work in tandem. And yet, since the Cold War, congressional ambition has waned on this front. Even when Congress does provide initial authorization for larger operations, they do not provide strict parameters or clear end dates. As a result, one president after another has initiated and carried out poorly developed and poorly executed military policy. The Politics of War Powers offers a measured, deeply informed look at how the American constitutional system broke down, how it impacts decision-making today, and how we might find our way out of this unhealthy power division. Sarah Burns starts with a nuanced account of the theoretical and historical development of war powers in the United States. Where discussions of presidential power often lean on the concept of the Lockean Prerogative, Burns locates a more constructive source in Montesquieu. Unlike Locke, Montesquieu combines universal normative prescriptions with an emphasis on tailoring the structure to the unique needs of a society. In doing so, the separation of powers can be customized while maintaining the moderation needed to create a healthy institutional balance. He demonstrates the importance of forcing the branches into dialogue, putting them, as he says, “in a position to resist” each other. Burns’s conclusion—after tracing changes through Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s administration, the Cold War, and the War on Terror—is that presidents now command a dangerous degree of unilateral power. Burns’s work ranges across Montesquieu’s theory, the debate over the creation of the Constitution, historical precedent, and the current crisis. Through her analysis, both a fuller picture of the alterations to the constitutional system and ideas on how to address the resulting imbalance of power emerge.

The Making of the Modern Law: Legal Treatises, 1800-1926 includes over 20,000 analytical, theoretical and practical works on American and British Law. It includes the writings of major legal theorists, including Sir Edward Coke, Sir William Blackstone, James Fitzjames Stephen, Frederic William Maitland, John Marshall, Joseph Story, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. and Roscoe Pound, among others. Legal Treatises includes casebooks, local practice manuals, form books, works for lay readers, pamphlets, letters, speeches and other works of the most influential writers of their time. It is of great value to researchers of domestic and international law, government and politics, legal history, business and economics, criminology and much more.++++The below data was compiled from various identification fields in the bibliographic record of this title. This data is provided as an additional tool in helping to insure edition identification: ++++Harvard Law School Libraryocm19336010Boston: Published for the Emancipation League [by] J.L. Shorey, 1863. vi, 143 p.; 24 cm.