Thomas wrote:Foxfyre wrote:The President can order the military to combat today at this very moment if he sees fit to do so and Congress doesn't need to know about it until after the fact. Congress has to declare war if war is declared and pass the funding to sustain combat.
How did you grow up as an American and not know that?
Perhaps because "that" isn't a settled fact at all. The text of the constitution itself draws no clear line between the president's power under the "commander in chief clause" and Congress's power under the clause about declaring war. From looking at
Findlaw's annotated constitution, it seems this question has not produced much conclusive federal caselaw, and remains an area of ongoing scholarly discussion. What you are presenting as a settled fact, then, is really just your subjective interpretation of the commander-in-chief-clause.
No, it is my understanding of the Federalist papers, long hours of sitting in history and government classes, the Constitution, subsequent interpretation of the War Powers Act of 1973 that sought to limit the President's authority to order the military into combat--the constitutionality of that has not yet been challenged and is still being debated. But the authority to launch a nuclear missile, to scramble fighters to defend against intruders, to intercept a ship at sea, or conduct necessary defensive raids, to order a bombing run, or recall a military operation remain with the President and, other than the nuclear missile thing, have been used quite frequently by all Presidents, the most recently by President Clinton.
Common sense would tell us that if a threat is imminent, the President must have authority to act on a moment's notice and he must have authority to commandeer all the nation's defense personnel and networks at all times. And he has the ability to order a full blown military strike though he could likely be called on the carpet for it by Congress later who would evoke the War Powers Act to discipline him.
The United States has not declared war against anybody since WWII but that doesn't seem to stop us from getting into them just the same.
