Presidential War Powers
Lawrence, KS: University of Kansas Press, 1995. Third printing [stated]. Hardcover. xvi, 245, [3[ pages. Preface. Note on Citations. Footnotes. Appendices. Suggested Readings. Index of Cases. Subject. The nine chapters are entitled: The Constitutional Framework; Precedents from 1789 to 1900; America Steps Out: 1900-1945; The UN Charter and Korea; Taking Stock: 1951-1964; Vietnam and the War Powers Resolution; Military Initiatives from Ford to Clinton; Covert Operations; and Restoring Checks and Balances. Louis Fisher is Scholar in Residence at the Constitution Project. Previously he worked for four decades at the Library of Congress as a senior specialist in separation of powers (Congressional Research Service, from 1970 to 2006) and specialist in constitutional law (the Law Library, from 2006 to 2010). During his service with the Congressional Research Service, he was research director of the House Iran Contra Committee in 1987, writing major sections of the final report. He has testified about 50 times before congressional committees on such issues as the war power, state secret privilege, National Security Agency surveillance, national security whistleblowers, and other executive legislative conflicts. He is the author of 20 books and more than 400 articles in law reviews, political science journals, encyclopedias, and other publications. Preeminent constitutional authority Louis Fisher chronicles the dramatic expansion--from George Washington to Bill Clinton--of presidential war power. Executive initiatives, he argues, come at the expense of congressional control and violate the Constitution. Indeed, the post-World War II political climate has promoted extra-constitutional actions by presidents eager to redefine the meanings of "emergency powers" and "defensive war." Flashpoints like Haiti, Bosnia, Panama, and the Persian Gulf, he contends, provide predictable manifestations of an increasingly overreaching presidency. Constitutionally, Congress was empowered to declare and authorize war. Yet, thanks largely to a docile Congress and negligent judiciary, presidents have virtually confiscated the power to make war. That process has hardly been curbed by the War Powers Resolution (1973) and more recent signs of congressional backbone. As a result, Presidents Bush (in the Persian Gulf) and Clinton (in Haiti and Bosnia) have tried to sidestep congressional approval by asserting United Nations authority for military actions beyond our borders. Fisher is emphatic: Such actions violate the letter and the spirit of the Constitution. More than a comprehensive history and critical commentary on the growth of presidential power, Fisher's book also addresses fundamental questions--what defines self-defense? what constitutes a commitment of forces? should the War Powers Resolution be reauthorized?--and reminds us again of how much is at stake every time we go to war. Condition: Very good.
Keywords: War Powers, Foreign Affairs, Intelligence Oversight Act, Multilateral Peace Operations, Covert Action, Korean War, Mutual Security, Executive Power, Gulf of Tonkin, Mayaguez, Desert One, Invasion of Grenada, Gulf War, Combat Operations
ISBN: 0700606904
[Book #83078]
Price: $65.00