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1 1 (January 3, 2020)

handle is hein.crs/govbdxt0001 and id is 1 raw text is: FF. ' ,iE S .r, i , Updated January 3, 2020 Defense Primer: Congress's Constitutional Authority with Regard to the Armed Forces The Congress shall have power *** ; To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water. To raise and support Armies, but no Appropriation of Money to that Use shall be for a longer Term than two Years. To provide and maintain a Navy. To make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval Forces. In Lichter v. United States, 334 U.S. 742 (1948), the Supreme Court discusses the war powers of Congress as the sum of many interconnected authorities found in the Constitution. Addressing the constitutionality of the Renegotiation Act, an act allowing the government to renegotiate contracts related to war supplies during WWII, the Court declared that In view of this power 'To raise and support Armies, ... and the power granted in the same Article of the Constitution 'to make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers,' . . . the only question remaining is whether the Renegotiation Act was a law 'necessary and proper for carrying into Execution' the war powers of Congress and especially its power to support armies. In a footnote, the Court listed the Preamble, the Necessary and Proper Clause, the provisions authorizing Congress to lay taxes and provide for the common defense, to declare war, and to provide and maintain a navy, together with the clause designating the President as Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy, as being among the many other provisions implementing the Congress and the President with powers to meet the varied demands of war .... . The power To declare War has long been construed to mean not only that Congress can formally take the nation into war, but also that it can authorize the use of the Armed Forces for military expeditions that may not amount to war. While a restrictive interpretation of the power To declare War is possible, for example, by viewing the Framers' use of the verb to declare rather than to make as an indication of an intent to limit Congress's ability to affect the course of a war once it is validly commenced, Congress's other powers over the use of the military would likely fill any resulting void. In practice, courts have not sought to delineate the boundaries of each clause relating to war powers or identify gaps between them to find specific powers that are denied to Congress. However, the Supreme Court has suggested that Congress might overstep its bounds into presidential territory if it were to interfere with the conduct of military operations. Congress has the power not only to raise and support and govern armies, but to declare war. It has therefore the power to provide by law for carrying on war. This power necessarily extends to all legislation essential to the prosecution of war with vigor and success except such as interferes with the command of the forces and the conduct of campaigns. That power and duty belong to the President as commander-in-chief. Ex parte Milligan, 71 U.S. (4 Wall.) 2, 139 (1866) (Chase, C.J., concurring). Debates relating to legislation regarded by some as interfering with the President's Commander-in-Chief authority are frequently framed in terms of legislative meddling in military operations, but the line between regulating the Armed Forces and directing campaigns has proved elusive. Congress has also used its authority to provide for the organization and regulation of the Armed Forces to determine how military personnel are to be organized and employed. For example, early statutes prescribed in fairly precise terms how military units were to be formed and commanded. Th& .f oc'dP ssy,~z~ The Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) is an exercise of Congress's power to raise and support armies (Art. I, § 8, cl. 12); provide and maintain a Navy (Art. I, § 8, cl. 13); and to make rules for organizing and disciplining their members (Art. I, § 8, cl. 14). Under this authority, Congress enacted the UCMJ (Chapter 47 of Title 10, U.S. Code), which is the code of military criminal laws applicable to all U.S. military members worldwide. The President implements the UCMJ through the Manual for Courts-Martial (MCM), which was initially prescribed by Executive Order 12473 (April 13, 1984). The MCM contains the Rules for Courts-Martial (RCM), the Military .O 'T gogn, q goo g , q aS ' X 11LULANJILiN,

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