Once More: President Makes War, Congress Declares War

During the debates of the Constitutional Convention, they actually originally gave Congress the authority to "make" war. However, after careful consideration, decided to give that authority to the President, and instead gave Congress the authority to "declare" war. Just in case the President waged war in a manner not consistent with the interests of the country, however, the Founders provided a couple checks for Congress to use against the President, just in case. Below, in an Email to one of my students, I explain:

Hi Doug,

Let me see if I finally understand about war powers. Sometimes it takes some time for me to understand stuff. The President has the authority to wage war (send our troops into battle without the consent of Congress); Congress has the authority to declare war (which gives the President permission to wage war), is this right? If obamajinedad was allowed to send air power to Libya without the consent of Congress, doesn't that make Congress kind of invalid? There is still something I don't quite understand.

Thanks for your patience.

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XXXX,

Obama has the authority to wage war without Congress' approval because sometimes getting congressional approval is not possible. This is not to say that he shouldn't check with them. I believe he should have gotten congressional approval before moving on Libya, but he didn't have to.

Congress has the authority to declare war, which is not a process that necessarily gives permission to the president. A declaration of war is a formal announcement to other nations that we are in a state of war. Without it, if we were to hit another nation's vessels, for example, it would be an act of war. With a declaration of war in place, such an action where the vessel of a country not involved got hit, it would simply mean that the other country knew we were in a state of war, and did not get out of the way.

Obama going into Libya does not make Congress invalid, for if they do not like what he is doing, they have the authority to pull the funding for the military operation, which would put an immediate stop to it; or they could impeach the president if they felt he is making offensive moves that are unnecessary for the protection of the union.

Doug
www.politicalpistachio.com