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113 Pol. Sci. Q. 1 (1998-1999)

handle is hein.journals/pclscceqry113 and id is 1 raw text is: The War Powers Resolution: Time to Say Goodbye LOUIS FISHER DAVID GRAY ADLER The War Powers Resolution (WPR) of 1973 is generally consid- ered the high-water mark of congressional reassertion in national security af- fairs. In fact, it was ill conceived and badly compromised from the start, replete with tortured ambiguity and self-contradiction. The net result was to legalize a scope for independent presidential power that would have astonished the Framers, who vested the power to initiate hostilities exclusively in Congress. The resolution, however, grants to the president unbridled discretion to go to war as he deems necessary against anyone, anytime, anywhere, for at least ninety days. As Arthur Schlesinger Jr. has observed, before the passage of the resolution, unilateral presidential war was a matter of usurpation. Now, at least for the first ninety days, it was a matter of law.' Implementation of the War Powers Resolution has revealed further defi- ciencies. After occupying Haiti, the Clinton administration actually cited the resolution favorably as another weapon to add to its ever-expanding arsenal of claims for presidential warmaking power. After nearly twenty-five years of experience, it would be better for both branches-and for constitutional government-to repeal the War Powers Resolution and rely on traditional po- litical pressures and the regular system of checks and balances, including im- peachment. There is some risk that repeal might indirectly signal a reduced role for Congress, but that role has reached a minimal level anyway, in part because of the War Powers Resolution. Over the long term, outright repeal would be less risky than continuing along the present path. 'Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., The Imperial Presidency (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1989), 434-35. LOUIS FISHER is senior specialist in separation of powers at the Congressional Research Service of the Library of Congress. His most recent book is Presidential War Power. DAVID GRAY ADLER is professor of political science at Idaho State University. His most recent book, which he edited with Larry N. George, is The Constitution and the Conduct of American Foreign Policy. Political Science Quarterly Volume 113 Number 1 1998 1

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