War Powers

Legislators, like generals, have a tendency to fight the last war when approaching a new one. This is the case with Congress, whose institutional memories of the Vietnam conflict have tempered and influenced its response to the potential conflict in the Persian Gulf.This week, as the diplomatic option enters endgame, the new 102nd Congress seems as determined to debate the use of offensive military force against Iraq as it is uncertain what it should do.There are doves who want to restrain President Bush from ordering American troops into action.

The clock of war that is ticking loudly for American military forces in the Persian Gulf can also be heard, just as clearly, on Capitol Hill. But in Congress, the countdown toward a possible invasion of Iraq has another sound to it not heard among thetroops: It is the sound of a possible constitutional conflict with the White House.In the hot sands of Saudi Arabia, this other aspect of the gulf crisis may have no meaning, and might even seem silly, as troops prepare for what many expect would be a very bloody, costly war. But there is a historic dimension to this potential home-front combat between Capitol Hill and President Bush, this possible fight over war-making powers under the Constitution.

HE WASN'T quite Solomon, but U.S. District Judge Harold Greene neatly split the difference between President Bush and the 54 Democratic members of Congress who filed suit to prevent Bush from going to battle against Iraq without a congressional declaration of war.If there was a clear winner, it was the American people: Greene said in unequivocal terms that the Constitution gives Congress sole power to declare war. That point needed to be made, and he...

WASHINGTON -- A federal judge here ruled yesterday that America will be at war if it attacks Iraq and said that the courts might in the future support congressional veto power over that war if Congress is willing to challenge President Bush's claim that he can act alone.A different federal judge here, however, ruled almost simultaneously that the courts have no role to play in any dispute between Congress and the White House over U.S. military options in the Persian Gulf.The two conflicting rulings left the developing constitutional fight over possible combat in the gulf in a temporary state of legal limbo, with the ultimate outcome depending upon future action -- or inaction -- by two and probably all three branches of the federal government.

WASHINGTON -- Maryland Rep. Tom McMillen, D-4th, says he's confident President Bush would seek congressional authorization to go to war against Iraq.There's no need to go to court to force Bush to do that, said McMillen, who was reacting to a lawsuit filed yesterday by 45 House Democrats.One of Maryland's eight House members, Rep. Kweisi Mfume, D-7th, joined the suit, which seeks to enjoin Bush "from launching or initiating an offensive military attack by United States forces against Iraq without obtaining a declaration of war or other explicit authorization from Congress."

WASHINGTON -- Forty-five House Democrats filed a lawsuit yesterday in U.S. District Court in an attempt to stop President Bush from unilaterally committing U.S. troops to a war with Iraq.The group, led by California Representative Ronald V. Dellums and including Maryland Representative Kweisi Mfume, sought an injunction to bar the president from using force to oust Iraq from Kuwait without authorization from Congress. The filing of the suit was the latest skirmish between the legislative and executive branches over who has the authority to commit troops to combat.

Senators worried that President Bush will send American troops into action against Iraq while Congress is in recess are trying to compensate for an institutional feeling of inadequacy and frustration. Having all but abandoned the Vietnam-era War Powers Act as a means of exerting a legislative role in this ultimate governmental action, the senators are searching for an alternative.Chances are they will get nothing better than window-dressing. Mr. Bush, like presidents before him, is not about to cede his authority to command the armed forces and conduct foreign policy despite Congress' constitutional power to declare war and fund U.S. military activities.

Congress is on sound constitutional and practical grounds in seeking to be comptroller-in-chief of the armed forces stationed in Saudi Arabia. While its efforts to influence military policy in the Persian Gulf are bound to founder on the inherent unworkability of the War Powers Resolution, its case for exerting control over the funding of "Operation Desert Shield" is indisputable.The Constitution, which gives pride of place to the legislative branch, empowers Congress to raise taxes and borrow money to provide for the common defense by supporting armies and maintaining a navy.