Congress once fought to limit a president’s war powers − more than 50 years later, its successors are less willing to assert their authority

At the tail end of the Vietnam War, Congress engaged in a breathtaking act of legislative assertion, affirming that lawmakers’ held the power to declare war – not the president.

By: Sarah Burns, Rochester Institute of Technology; Institute for Humane Studies, The Conversation

Outlets: The Conversation

Published: March 4, 2026

Words: 1,399

Last Updated: 6 days, 9 hours ago

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By Sarah Burns, Rochester Institute of Technology; Institute for Humane Studies

Article 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 Constitution allows the president to use the military in certain situations without prior congressional approval – and have acted on that, sending troops into conflicts from Panama to …

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