Rep. Walter Jones Seeks To Limit the President’s War Power

Rep. Walter Jones has introduced H. Con. Res. 107, “Expressing the sense of Congress that the use of offensive military force by a President without prior and clear authorization of an Act of Congress constitutes an impeachable high crime and misdemeanor under article II, section 4 of the Constitution”:

Whereas the cornerstone of the Republic is honoring Congress’s exclusive power to declare war under article I, section 8, clause 11 of the Constitution: Now, therefore, be it Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring), That it is the sense of Congress that, except in response to an actual or imminent attack against the territory of the United States, the use of offensive military force by a President without prior and clear authorization of an Act of Congress violates Congress’s exclusive power to declare war under article I, section 8, clause 11 of the Constitution and therefore constitutes an impeachable high crime and misdemeanor under article II, section 4 of the Constitution.

This is a good start (authorization is not the same as war declaration and “sense of the Congress” carries with it no force of law). But even an authorization or a declaration of an unjust war is still evil.

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7:04 pm on May 16, 2012