CONSTITUTIONAL INTERPRETATIONS

President Trump seems determined to go to war with Venezuela without affirmative Congressional assent. Although the United States Supreme Court has never ruled on the issue, I believe the United States Constitution prohibits the President’s militaristic orders against that country and its people without Congressional approval.

Article I of the Constitution contains the following provisions:

All legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives. [U.S. Const., Art. I, §1] . . . The Congress shall have Power. . . To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water . . . [U.S. Const., Art. I, §8].

That Congressional authority is tempered only by the President’s oath of office required by the Constitution. There, he has sworn to “preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.” [U.S. Const., Art. II, §1] To assist him, the Constitution places the entire military strength of the United States at his disposal. [See the Commander-in-Chief Clause, U.S. Const., Art. II, §2]

To exercise his oath-of-office with our nation’s military might, the President must identify and respond to a threat to the “Constitution of the United States,” coming out of a foreign country. In the absence of any such threat, the Constitution allows Congress, not the President, to declare war, or to commission a more limited military action, against a foreign country or its people. The Constitution explicitly says so. The President is duty bound, again by the Constitution, to see that that document, which makes up the “supreme Law of the Land,” [U.S. Const., Art. VI, second sentence] is “faithfully executed.” [U.S. Const., Art. II, §3]

/s/ Dan D. Rhea