![handle is hein.crs/goveqts0001 and id is 1 raw text is: The Declare War Clause, Part 4: Jurisprudence
and Practice and Early American Conflicts
September 30, 2024
This Legal Sidebar is the fourth part of an eight-part series that discusses the Declare War Clause in
Article I, Section 8, Clause 11 of the Constitution, which grants Congress the power To declare War,
grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water[.] The
power to take the nation to war is a central element of the Constitution's scheme of war powers, but
interpretation of the Declare War Clause is complex and evolving. This Sidebar series discusses the
Supreme Court's jurisprudence related to declarations of war by Congress and highlights interbranch
practices that illuminate the executive and legislative branches' sometimes differing interpretations of the
clause. Additional information on Congress's war powers and the President's powers as Commander-in-
Chief can be found in the Constitution Annotated.
Jurisprudence and Interbranch Practice
Historically, many of the most prominent disputes over the Constitution's allocation of war powers to
reach the Supreme Court centered on the federal government's war powers in their collective capacity
rather than on the division of powers between the Congress and the President. In the course of examining
those constitutional questions, the Supreme Court has occasionally discussed the interbranch division of
war powers, but it has never decided a case that required it directly to resolve the modem debate over the
power to initiate military action. Accordingly, the remainder of this Sidebar series examines the Supreme
Court's jurisprudence related to congressional war powers and highlights cases that relate to the debate
over the power to initiate military action. Because courts have been reluctant to decide interbranch
disputes in this area, this section also discusses the executive and legislative branch's practices that
contribute to the constitutional understanding of these issues.
The Quasi War with France
A trio of cases arising out of the events known as the Quasi War with France provide some insight into
early judicial views about separation of war powers. Angered that the United States did not aid France in
its late 18th century war with England, the French government ordered the seizure of American merchant
ships. Congress did not declare war in response, but it did pass a series of statutes abrogating the United
Congressional Research Service
https://crsreports.congress.gov
LSB11233
CRS Legal Sidebar
Prepared for Members and
Committees of Congress](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.crs/goveqts0001&div=1&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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