1. The Prize Cases, (1863)
2. Facts: The civil war had not yet been declared a war, but Congress had passed several resolutions giving the President some limited powers to take action against the seceding states. The President instituted a naval blockade and seized several ships.
3. Procedural Posture: The seizures were challenged as unconstitutional.
4. Issue: Whether the President had the authority, given the circumstances, to initiate a naval blockade in the absence of an express declaration of war by the Congress.
5. Holding: Yes.
6. Reasoning: Congress does not have the power to declare war against a domestic state. However, the President, as the chief executive, has the statutory power to supress insurrection, and to see that the laws are carried out. In fact, he has the obligation to protect the union. It is the President’s decision whether force is necessary when it is authorized. In any event, the Congress subsequently passed laws retroactively granting the power, without admitting that it did not exist.
7. Dissent Reasoning: The Congress alone has the power to declare war, and the naval blockade was war-like force. There is no difference between a civil war or a public war. Also, the subsequent grant by Congress was an ex post facto law.
8. Notes: Before the Iraq war, President Bush sent massive amounts of U.S. troops to Saudi Arabia, relying on his constitutional powers as Commander in Chief, and denied the efficacy of the War Powers resolution. Debate ensued as to whether the President had the power to take action towards starting a war without Congressional declaration of war or statutory grant of power. In Dullum v. Bush, 54 members of Congress sued to prevent the President from initiating an offensive attack without first seeking the approval of the Congress, claiming that it was a justiciable, and not merely a political question. However, as the Jan 15th deadline approached, Congress voted to authorize Presidential use of force and the issue became moot. In 1967, the Fulbright committee issued a report recounting the expanding assertion of power of the Presidency, and recommending that Congress reassert its constitutional authority over the use of the armed forces by using joint resolutions that specifically grant definite and limited power rather than merely express approval for indefinite actions to be taken by the President. After that, Congress also used its purse string powers to cut off funding for american armed forces involvement in Cambodia.
