Congress once fought to limit a president’s war powers − more than 50 years later, its successors are less willing to assert their authority
- Written by Sarah Burns, Associate Professor of Political Science, Rochester Institute of Technology; Institute for Humane Studies
Rubble from a police station damaged in airstrikes on March 3, 2026 in Tehran, Iran. Majid Saeedi/Getty ImagesArticle 1 of the U.S. Constitution gives Congress the power to declare war, not the president. But most modern presidents and their legal counsel have asserted that Article 2 of the Constitutionallows the president to use the military in...
