Snowball
05-06-2019, 09:11 AM
Pompeo Won’t Promise to Consult Congress Before Attacking Venezuela
Says anything Trump decides to do would be legal
https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Pompeo-won-t-promise-to-consult-Congress-about-13820872.php
"The president has his full range of Article 2 authorities, and I'm very confident that any action we took in Venezuela would be lawful."
None of this is stated in Article II. Perhaps he should pay attention to the last paragraph, however..
https://constitutioncenter.org/interactive-constitution/articles/article-ii
This is not the first time a sitting Secretary of State argued that the President may launch wars without Congress.
Ultimately, it has never been done. Authorization was always sought by the President and granted by Congress, or War
was formally declared.
For example, the run-up to Desert Storm:
According to the Bush Administration, the fact that the Constitution gives Congress, and only Congress, the power "to declare war" doesn't stop the President from starting a war on his own. Congress might have interesting opinions, and its support is desirable, the argument goes. But its approval is not required should the President decide to attack Iraq, even if the attack is, in the Administration's phrase, sudden, massive and decisive.
It's a breathtaking misinterpretation of the Constitution.
The argument emerged in recent testimony by Secretary of State James Baker and in arguments by the Justice Department in lawsuits brought by 54 House members and a National Guardsman on duty in Saudi Arabia. Those lawsuits have now failed in the trial courts but the Administration's war powers claims are left as mere naked assertions.
https://www.nytimes.com/1990/12/15/opinion/who-can-declare-war.html
George Bush had to seek approval (and he got it):
The Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution (short title) ( Pub.L. 102–1) or Joint Resolution to authorize the use of United States Armed Forces pursuant to United Nations Security Council Resolution 678 (official title), was the United States Congress's January 14, 1991 authorization of the use ... President George H. W. Bush requested a Congressional joint resolution.
Says anything Trump decides to do would be legal
https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Pompeo-won-t-promise-to-consult-Congress-about-13820872.php
"The president has his full range of Article 2 authorities, and I'm very confident that any action we took in Venezuela would be lawful."
None of this is stated in Article II. Perhaps he should pay attention to the last paragraph, however..
https://constitutioncenter.org/interactive-constitution/articles/article-ii
This is not the first time a sitting Secretary of State argued that the President may launch wars without Congress.
Ultimately, it has never been done. Authorization was always sought by the President and granted by Congress, or War
was formally declared.
For example, the run-up to Desert Storm:
According to the Bush Administration, the fact that the Constitution gives Congress, and only Congress, the power "to declare war" doesn't stop the President from starting a war on his own. Congress might have interesting opinions, and its support is desirable, the argument goes. But its approval is not required should the President decide to attack Iraq, even if the attack is, in the Administration's phrase, sudden, massive and decisive.
It's a breathtaking misinterpretation of the Constitution.
The argument emerged in recent testimony by Secretary of State James Baker and in arguments by the Justice Department in lawsuits brought by 54 House members and a National Guardsman on duty in Saudi Arabia. Those lawsuits have now failed in the trial courts but the Administration's war powers claims are left as mere naked assertions.
https://www.nytimes.com/1990/12/15/opinion/who-can-declare-war.html
George Bush had to seek approval (and he got it):
The Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution (short title) ( Pub.L. 102–1) or Joint Resolution to authorize the use of United States Armed Forces pursuant to United Nations Security Council Resolution 678 (official title), was the United States Congress's January 14, 1991 authorization of the use ... President George H. W. Bush requested a Congressional joint resolution.