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1 1 (December 16, 2020)

handle is hein.crs/govdcxh0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Updated December 16,2020 Defense Primer: Congress's Constitutional Authority with Regard to the Armed Forces A tc K1 Sectkmn 8, Cass I -4 The Congress shallhavepower ***; To declare War, grant Letters ofMarqueandReprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Landand Water. To raise and support Armies, butno Appropriation of Money to that Use shall befor a longer Term than two Years. To provide and maintaina Navy. To make Ru lesfor the Government and Regulation ofthe land an dn ava lForces. TKe War~ Ptwers In Lichterv. United States, 334U.S. 742 (1948), the Supreme Court discusses the war powersofCongress as the sumof many interconnected authorities found in the Constitution. Addressing the constitutionality of the Renegotiation Act, an act allowing thegovernmentto renegotiate contracts related to war supplies during WWII, the Court declared that In viewofthis power 'To raise and support Armies, ... and the power granted in the s ame 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, theprovis ions 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 amongthe many other provisions implementing the Congress andthePresident 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 mihtary expeditions thatmay not amount to war. While ares trictive interpretation of the power To declare War is possible, for example, by viewing the Framers' use of the verb to declarerather than to make as an indication ofan intentto limit Congress's ability to affect the course of a war once it is validly commenced, Congres s's other po wers over the us e 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 betweenthemto find specific powers that are denied to Congress. However, the Supreme Court has suggested that Congress might overstep its bounds into presidential territory ifit 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 comman der-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. The U nfomn' Code& of M~ztar jusc The Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) is an exercise of Congress's powerto rais e 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 Presidentimplements 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 \ Q yg

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