That’s Not What the Constitution Says!

September 16, 2014 by Chip Wood

In a column last week, I had some harsh things to say about those wimps in Congress who seem perfectly willing, even eager, to surrender the war-making authority that the Constitution gives them to our imperial president.
But then I misstated what the Constitution does require. And several readers were quick to point it out. Here’s how commenter Vigilant described my error:
[Mr. Wood] says, “Whatever U.S. actions the President recommends, there is one thing his spokesmen have been clear that he definitely will not do. He will not ask Congress for a declaration of war, as the Constitution requires.”
The Constitution requires no such thing, Mr. Wood. Congress may declare war any time they so desire, and it does not require a request from anyone.
Vigilant is absolutely correct. While we have a tradition in this country of the president of the United States asking Congress for a declaration of war — such as Franklin Roosevelt’s “day of infamy” speech to a joint session of Congress after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor — there is no such requirement in the Constitution.
World War II was the very last time that Congress issued a formal declaration of war. Every single military action since then, including the ones in Korea, Vietnam and the Middle East, has been fought under some other so-called authority. Remember the Tonkin Gulf Resolution that was used to justify our military involvement in Vietnam?
It’s enlightening to see exactly what the Constitution does say — and sometimes, what it doesn’t say. Article I begins by declaring: “All legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and a House of Representatives.”
What follow are several sections describing the qualifications for senators and representatives, how they shall be selected, when they shall meet and even how they shall be compensated.
It is Section 8 of Article I that lists the specific powers that the Constitution grants to the Congress. Among the long list there is the simple phrase, “To declare War.” That same proviso also gives Congress the right to “grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water.”
Section 8 also says it is the responsibility of Congress “To raise and support Armies,” “To provide and maintain a Navy,” and “To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions.”
We’ll talk another time about the lousy job Congress has done on that final instruction to “repel Invasions.” What else can you call the flood of millions of illegal aliens that have streamed across our Southern border other than an invasion?
The qualifications and responsibilities of the president of the United States are explained in Article II. That’s where you’ll find the pesky requirement that a newly elected president, “Before he enter on the Execution of his Office,” take an oath that says:
I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of the President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.
Of course, there hasn’t been a chief executive in the past 100 years who has paid more than lip service to this solemn pledge.
It is Section 2 of Article II that declares:
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.
It is this same section that gives the president the power to negotiate treaties and to appoint “Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, Judges of the supreme Court, and all other Officers of the United States.” But the Constitution is very clear that none of these actions can take effect without the advice and consent of two-thirds of the U.S. Senate.
If the Constitution says that the president of the United States can’t even appoint an ambassador without the approval of the Senate, what are the chances that the people who created this magnificent document would permit him to take this country to war without the approval of Congress? I’d say absolutely none, wouldn’t you?
So while Vigilant is right in saying that the Constitution doesn’t require the president to ask for a declaration of war, I stand by my larger point: It is the people’s representatives, not the president, who must agree to send U.S. forces into battle.
This country has paid an enormous price, in blood and in money, for allowing our imperial presidents to violate that clear Constitutional requirement.
Until next time, keep some powder dry.
–Chip Wood

http://personalliberty.com/thats-constitution-says/