This stands in contrast to Biden’s stance in 2007, when, during a Q&A with the Boston Globe, he said: “The Constitution is clear: except in response to an attack or the imminent threat of attack, only Congress may authorise war and the use of force.”
Have US presidents always sought congressional approval for military strikes?
No. There have been several instances when US presidents have carried out military strikes without seeking congressional approval.
In December, the US military launched strikes against three sites used by Kataib Hezbollah, a major Iran-aligned armed group, and other unnamed affiliated groups in Iraq. Biden did not seek congressional approval beforehand.
The US president also ordered air strikes in Syria in February 2021 without the approval of Congress, a move that also drew criticism from lawmakers.
In January 2020, Democrats questioned whether it was legal for former president Donald Trump to order the assassination of the Iranian military commander, Qassem Soleimani, without congressional authorisation.
In March 2011, former president Barack Obama ordered air strikes in Libya without formal authorisation from Congress. Obama argued that the fighting in Libya did not amount to “hostilities” that would trigger the need for congressional approval.
Former president Bill Clinton escalated the 1999 NATO bombing against Serbia in Kosovo without formal authorisation from Congress. - https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/1/12/did-biden-violate-the-us-constitution-in-bombing-yemens-houthi-sites
Declaring war gives the executive branch almost unlimited powers. There hasn’t been a President since Ike that could be trusted with that.
It wont happen again in our lifetimes.
That just goes to show how ass-backwards our government has become in comparison to its original structure.
The strongest branch of the U.S. government was designed to be the legislature, not the chief executive. This idea that the President can veto a measure aimed at limited his authority in a matter that is supposed to be legislated by Congress is ludicrous.
tried to do a quick check of the last president who did NOT authorize military force during his presidency.
That would be William Henry Harrison. He died 30 days into his term - probably never had time to give a military order, but I’m sure there were probably ongoing skirmishes with the natives anyway.
Lincoln was probably the last to give no military orders for conflicts abroad - so long as we consider both sides to be on U.S. territory.
Just because they ignored it doesn't necessarily mean they "deemed" it unconstitutional. Sometimes our national security can't afford to wait around for the Congress to get its act together.
And the Constitution gives the Congress the power to declare war but nowhere does it stipulate that war may not be waged absent its declaration (oops!).
In fact the US has engaged in combat or (armed kinetic intervention), depending how you count it, about a hundred times (give or take 10 or 20) since the nation's founding. On the other hand, the Congress has passed EXACTLY 11 Declarations of War, and eight of them were during the two World Wars. Even Saint Abraham failed to get a declaration of war before sending hundreds of thousands of his subjects to slaughter.
So whining about undeclared wars is a little self-indulgent and a lot sophistic.