The Constitution and Libya I appreciate the opportunity to guest
blog on the Constitution and the Libya intervention. In a post
at Slate, Jack Goldsmith says that the Constitution’s original
meaning in this area is “indeterminate.” I respectfully
disagree: I think congressional approval is clearly required. In
this post I’ll set out my basic argument, and in the next one
I’ll consider leading counterarguments. Every major figure from
the founding era who commented on the matter said that the
Constitution gave Congress the exclusive power to commit the
nation to hostilities. Notably, this included not only people
with reservations about presidential power, such as James
Madison and Thomas Jefferson, but also strong advocates of the
President’s prerogatives, such as George Washington and
Alexander Hamilton. As President, Washington on several
occasions said that he could not undertake offensive military
actions without Congress’ approval. Hamilton is especially
significant, because his views on the need for a s