Presidential War Power

Overview: In this new edition of a classic and bestselling work, Louis Fisher, one of our top Constitutional scholars, updates his arguments throughout, critiques the presidential actions of William Clinton and George W. Bush, and challenges their expansion of executive power. Spanning the life of the Republic from the Revolutionary Era to the nation's post-9/11 wars, the new edition covers: New military initiatives including the Use of Force Act, the Iraq Resolution of 2002, George W. Bush's "preemption doctrine," and his order authorizing military tribunals President Clinton's overt and covert military actions in Bosnia and against Yugoslavia, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Osama bin Laden; George H. W. Bush's reasons for not pushing on to Baghdad to overthrow Saddham Hussein after Desert Storm.; Numerous Congressional initiatives, including a 1995 effort to amend the War Powers Resolution and a proposed 1998 amendment to use the power of the purse to limit presidential military initiatives; The 1998 CIA "whistle-blowing" statute; New sections on the Vandenberg Resolution of 1948, the "Little Sarah" incident of 1793, and early apparent precedents that did not make the President the "sole organ" of foreign affairs; New material on letters of marque and reprisal, the law of nations, presidential "fame," and the contributions of Joseph Story.