GREGG JARRETT: The Senate was right to reject Democrats’ war powers overreach

The Senate on Wednesday, March 4, wisely rejected a new war powers resolution aimed at stopping or restricting President Donald Trump’s ability to launch further military strikes against Iran. The House version also failed.

Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va. The upper house resolution filed by called for a cessation of hostilities “unless expressly authorized by a declaration of war or special authorization for the use of military force issued by Congress.”

The resolution, supported by nearly all Democrats, was flawed for several reasons.

First, the president can take military action with or without a declaration of war. He doesn’t need permission from Congress. Second, there already exists a valid authorization for the use of military force that applies directly to the conflict at hand. Third, such a decision unconstitutionally violates the separation of powers.

The fallacy of the Democrats’ argument can easily be demonstrated by reexamining their own words. It wasn’t long after former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced that President Barack Obama did not need permission from Congress to bomb Libya in 2011. Democrats collectively emulated his perspective.

They maintained their unwavering stance while Obama launched air strikes on six more countries (Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia, Iraq and Syria). President Joe Biden followed suit with similar strikes, and there were no complaints from Democrats.

But when Trump does this, partisan wolves scratch at the White House door and accuse him of acting unlawfully. Hypocrisy is always in fashion on Capitol Hill.

Academicians II. TRUMP’S IRAN STRIKES HAVE LEGAL COVERING, AS Article Says Playbook Extends to Obama Era and Beyond

Critics of Trump are wrong to claim that the president has usurped Congress’s authority to intervene militarily. Quite the opposite. He uses the powers given to him by the Constitution directly by the people.

Democrats are the ones guilty of trying to arrogant presidential power.

Constitutional Powers

PENTAGON POLITICS CHIEF GOT ANGRY WHEN DEM CLAIMED TRUMP KEPT HIS PROMISE TO GO TO WAR WITH IRAN

Our Founding Framers consciously chose to separate responsibility for all matters related to military action between the president and Congress. This separation of powers is included in the Constitution that the Founders created in the summer of 1787.

Article II, Section 1 grants the president “executive power.” An important element was discretion in foreign affairs and military action against threats. This was confirmed by the Supreme Court in Chief Justice John Marshall’s famous Marbury v. Madison decision, which declared that the legislature “has no authority to check this discretion.”

Congress was not excluded, but was given a limited function. The original draft gave the authority to “make war”. But James Madison and others successfully argued that such language would give the legislature too large a role in the conduct of war, a purely administrative duty.

NIKKI HALEY RESPONDED TO DEMOCRATS WHO SAID THE IRANIAN REGIME ‘NOT A THREAT TO AMERICA’: ‘Nonsense’

Therefore, Article I, Section 8 was amended to give Congress only the power to “declare war.” What does this mean? It is a formal declaration to initiate a state of war, usually at the request of the president. It is narrowly interpreted and has no authority to initiate military action of any kind. That job falls to the president, although Congress can always refuse to appropriate funds for it.

The United States has issued war declarations 11 times in five conflicts. But presidents have invoked their constitutional authority more than 200 times to organize and conduct aggressive military action against foreign enemies to protect national interests and ensure the safety of Americans.

Article I does not give Congress the authority to prevent a president from doing so.

HASSELBECK CONFRONTED HOSTIN ABOUT OBAMA’S ‘OPINION’ ABOUT BOMBING LIBYA IN THE IRAN DEBATE

War Powers Resolution of 1973

During the undeclared “war” in Vietnam, Congress passed a resolution aimed at restricting President Richard Nixon’s authority to conduct military operations. He essentially rewrote the Constitution and weakened the authority of the commander in chief by giving lawmakers powers they did not have.

The legislature can, by a simple vote, amend Article II of the Constitution. It is well known that the President cannot take away the executive authority granted to him by Article I and at the same time rearrange his Article I authority. This requires changing the Constitution through amendment.

Rep. BRIAN MAST: DEMOCRATS DON’T WANT WAR POWERS, THEY WANT TO WAVE A WHITE FLAG

Many leading Democrats have strongly condemned the decision for years, which gave their party majority control of both Houses in 1973. In 1988, Sen., D-Me., who would soon become the majority leader. George Mitchell criticized this as clearly unconstitutional:

“[T]”The War Powers Resolution does not work because it exceeds constitutional limits on Congress’s authority to control the Armed Forces in non-war situations and potentially undermines our ability to effectively defend our national interests.”

Mitchell, who was once a federal judge and knew a thing or two about the Constitution, was right. But since the Supreme Court has never directly ruled on the decision, it remains an active but false law. No president since 1973 has accepted this as a valid constitutional constraint on his powers.

YOU RAND PAUL: AMERICA IS AT WAR, BUT AMERICANS DID NOT VOTE FOR IT

Some, including Obama, ignored it. Every president in the last 53 years has reserved the right to act unilaterally in implementing some questionable requirements. That is, notify Congress within 48 hours and withdraw troops within 60 to 90 days, unless specifically authorized by Congress.

So far, President Donald Trump has fully complied with these rules.

If Congress chooses to demand a halt to the deal, Trump can ignore it, knowing that both priorities and the Constitution itself would fully justify doing so. In drafting this venerable document, the framers excluded the legislature from any definitive power to end hostilities or war.

PELOSI’S WAR FORCES ARE REVEALED IN RE-ECURED OBAMA-era Clip, CONFLICT WITH TRUMP’S CRITICISM OF IRAN

Authorization to Use Military Force

Immediately following the September 11, 2001 attacks, Congress passed a joint resolution known as the “Authorization for the Use of Military Force” (AUMF). It gave the president special and extraordinary powers to target groups and countries that “aided or abetted terrorist attacks” on the perpetrators of 9/11. The stated goal was to “prevent any future acts of international terrorism against the United States.”

It is enough to read the report of the September 11 Commission to remember Iran’s complicity. For years, the government of Tehran actively aided and abetted deadly attacks on America by providing extensive training, intelligence, transportation, logistics, weapons, and funding to Al Qaeda terrorists. The report stated that some of the terrorists supported by Iran were “future September 11 hijackers”.

CLICK FOR OTHER OPINIONS OF FOX NEWS

When the United States invaded Afghanistan, many senior al-Qaeda leaders fled to neighboring Iran, where they were provided safe haven.

Iran, the world’s biggest supporter of terrorism, has been waging a bloody war against the USA for 47 years. On their own and through their threatening proxies and militias, they have attacked our bases, targeted our citizens, kidnapped our diplomats, and cost more American lives than any other terrorist regime in the world.

CLICK TO DOWNLOAD FOX NEWS APPLICATION

Over decades, the deranged leadership has built a deadly arsenal of ballistic missiles and sought to obtain nuclear weapons for the sole purpose of using them against the United States and our staunch ally Israel. The evidence for this is overwhelming.

For all these reasons, President Trump has a broad constitutional authority—indeed, a positive duty—to take preemptive action to end this sinister threat once and for all.

Related Article