[goldstategop]

1st Circus clowns. They want to run the U.S army now? Figures.

[mhking]

Get outta the way.

Let's roll.

[Jim Noble]

>>"...we might as well write Article I, Section 8 out of the Constitution. It will effectively have no meaning."<<

Au contraire! It has a precise meaning.

Here is what declaring war means:

"A state of war is hereby formally declared; and the President is hereby authorized and directed to employ the entire naval and military forces of the United States and the resources of the Government to carry on war; and, to bring the conflict to a successful termination, all of the resources of the country are hereby pledged by the Congress of the United States."

All the resources of the country are hereby pledged by the Congress of the United States

That's what it means when the People of the United States (acting through their representatives in Congress assembled) declare war on their enemies. That's the power that We assign to Congress in Article I, section 8.

And if you think that power is a nullity (as many here do), look what happens when our armed forces are in combat without "all the resources of the country".

The Commander-in-Chief is not CINC of the People, he is CINC of the armed forces. He already has the authority to order them into combat (this was already adjudicated in in both Korea and Vietnam, the lawsuit is an absurdity).

What he lacks the authority to do is to pledge the full resources of the nation to victory. And when that commitment is lacking, the results are all bad-the minority in Congress can complain constantly about every reverse and every bad thing that happens (as they do when you are not taking over Granada or Panama), the People are not fully engaged in the war effort, and the sustaining power of the People behind our troops tends to flag and then to fail.

The "War Powers Act" is unconstitutional, a pathetic attempt by a spineless Congress to have it both ways.

Only the People of the United States can declare War, and our only mechanism to do so is through our Representatives and Senators.

We should demand that they do so-not to enable the President to act, but to add the power of "all the resources of the nation" to the struggle that lies ahead.

[Diogenesis]

========= 2003 FR Judicial Watch in the USA =========

HEROES DEFEND THE USA AND CONSTITUTION
ZEROES HELP THE ENEMIES OF THE US MORE THAN DRIVERS OF SUVs

---

HEROES
Circuit Judges Randolph, Williams, and Garland of the
U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia unanimously ruled.
"No court in this country has jurisdiction to [hear constitutional claims of] the Guantanamo detainees,
even if they have not been adjudicated enemies of the United States".

HERO
Chief Judge William Young, First Circuit: "We are not afraid of any of your terrorist co-conspirators, Mr. Reid ...
"You’re a big fellow. But you’re not that big. You’re no warrior. I know warriors....
You are a terrorist, a species of criminal guilty of multiple attempted murders."
To call you a soldier gives you far too much stature. You are a terrorist, and we do not negotiate with terrorists.
We hunt them down one by one and bring them to justice. ...
"See that flag, Mr. Reid? That is the flag of the United States of America That flag will fly there long after this is long forgotten."

HEROES
4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the status of 22-year-old Yaser Esam Hamdi
as a citizen did not change the fact he was captured in Afghanistan while fighting with Taliban and al-Qaida terrorists.

HERO
Judge John Bates ruled lawmakers lacked standing to bring the case to stop withdrawal
from the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty because it is a political matter, not judicial.<>

HEROES:
The U.S. Supreme Court ending misuse of public funds
and a coup by Mary Frances Berry (D, US Commission of Civil Rights).

HEROES:
Judges Guy Jr., Leavy, Silberman - Expanded wiretap guidelines do not violate the Constitution

HEROES:
9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals - Court blocks legal challenge to detention of Afghan war prisoners

HEROES:
Rebecca W. Watson, Assistant Interior secretary and those who reversed
the Clinton administration's decision to deny approval of a power source
obtained from tapping into hot water beneath the surface of the Medicine Lake caldera,
a 6-mile-by-4-mile remnant of a collapsed volcano in the Modoc National Forest.
48-megawatts will now be produced.

---

ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT BY ZEROES

ZEROES:
In Boston, the federal appeals court
[normally devoted to protecting and defending drug companies
like Schering-Plough, which fund the court with $$$$$ and junkets for judges]
reversed a reasonable denial by (hero) federal Judge Tauro
who threw out a complaint by "peace" protesters against President Bush
as he works around the clock with the valiant US military to protect America after 911.
This is the same court which also removed a picture of President Bush from the court's walls,
even though Clinton's remained.

ZERO:
In Los Angeles, US District Judge Robert Takasugi of Los Angeles issued a preliminary
injunction blocking enforcement of the US citizenship requirement for airport guards.

ZEROES:
In Washington, US Federal Circuit Appellate Judges Clevenger, Friedman and Prost
turn down an Appeal accompanied by evidence of usurping US Constitution and US energy security.by the US Patent Office.
The Court inaccurately purported that measuring energy output has "no utility" for the USA
even as the USA is at War and greatly and urgently needs energy sources.
To cover it up, amicus curiae were gagged who would have testified that the Patent Office misquoted them.
[Meanwhile, the US Patent Office under Q. Todd Dickenson continued to issue patents using
astrology to predict lottery numbers, claiming that in contrast to energy patents,
astrology and lottery predictions of the future have unique "operability" and "utility"].

ZEROES:
In San Francisco, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals says in Silviera v. Lockyer,
that "the Second Amendment does not confer an individual right to own or possess arms."

[AntiGuv]

Ping to read later. I completely agree with your comments, BTW.

[glory]

a smaller group of House Democrats is again asking the courts to intervene before the United States launches a pre-emptive strike against a sovereign nation>>

Wonder where their lawsuit was when Clintoon was "declaring was without permission"?

[Illbay]

Bush has his "declaration of war." Congress authorized the action.

Clinton didn't even bother going to Congress.

These people are a complete sham. They ought to be ejected.

[IncPen]

Acting with surprising speed, a federal appeals court in Boston has revived a lawsuit seeking to block President Bush from launching an attack against Iraq without a formal declaration of war approved by Congress.

Where were they when Clinton was lobbing missles (the military kind)?

[tomahawk]

Any federal judge that tries to stop President Bush from carrying out his duties to protect the American people, after receiving explicit approval to do so from the Congress (not that such approval was necessary) is unfit and should be removed from the bench asap.

[ZULU]

When the courts exceed their responsibilities, the Executive should simply ignore their rantings.

[Abogado]

Even if the Appeals court hears this issue and rules adverse to our nation's interests - it will be too late as this is an issue the Supreme Court would likely hear. No doubt the Justice Department would request a stay of any adverse decision from the Appellate Court. By the time it works its way through the Court of Appeals, and then is set to be heard by the Supreme Court, the issue will be mute - Baghdad will be glowing...

[Congressman Billybob]

The central bullsh*t of this case, based on the article which leads this thread, is this: Congress has already adopted language that is nearly word for word the same as what Congress used in authorizing President Jefferson to conduct a war against the Barbary Pirates, two centuries ago. No one has ever questioned that the Barbary Pirate War was anything other than constitutional.

The War Powers Clause of the Constitution has not been revised since it was first drafted. And some of the people who wrote the Constitution, some of the FRAMERS, were sitting in Congress when the Barbary Pirate declaration was passed. That's a PRETTY GOOD indication that it was in accord with the Constitution.

I've read every single case in the history of the Supreme Court that either dealt with (two) or ducked (all the rest) a consideration of the War Powers Clause. I stand by my initial statement that this case is going nowhere.

Congressman Billybob

Latest column, not yet up on UPI, and FR, "Once, Twice, Three Times a Moron"

Latest book(let), "to Restore Trust in America."