Something caught my eye in the USA Today yesterday. An opinion piece by two former secretaries of state - Warren Christopher and James Baker. The two of them co-chaired a bi-partisan commission which studied the constitutional question of which powers are vested in the which branches of the government concerning going to war.
We know from the constitution that only Congress has the right to declare war. On the other hand, the President is the Commander in Chief and we have seen several "military actions" that have been undertaken by the President in that role which for all intents and purposes are identical to a declaration of war. So the definition of these powers is not so clear.
The commission studied the War Powers Resolution of 1973 which attempted to clarify the roles of the branches of government, and has been criticized as impractical and, in part, unconstitutional.
The results of their analysis is a proposal, the War Powers Consultation Act of 2009, which attempts to define the ways in which the Executive and Legislative branches must consult and work together in making decisions regarding engaging in military conflict.
The full report can be downloaded from the Nation War Powers Commission web site.
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