The President, Congress and the Security Council: Counterterrorism and the Use of Force Through the Internationalist Lens

Authors

Margaret E. McGuiness, St. John's University School of LawFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Title

Willamette Law Review

Publication Date

2009

Volume

45

First Page

417

Abstract

(Excerpt)

This symposium is focused on the powers of the U.S. presidency, a topic that typically implies questions of constitutional law. More narrowly, the topic of presidential powers in the area of counterterrorism typically raises questions of how the Constitution addresses the shared war powers of the President and Congress. U.S. legal scholars have generally not framed the question of presidential power to use force against transnational terrorist groups as one of international law or international institutions. Rather, the separation of powers question has focused on historical and functional views of the President's war powers and whether and to what degree presidential exercise of war powers should be subject to congressional constraints. Thus, we can view the question of presidential power to carry out counterterrorism policies as raising the question of how much congressional participation in use of force decisions is either constitutionally required or politically desirable.

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