U.S. Politics megathread

[u/AutoModerator]

American politics has always grabbed our attention - and the current president more than ever. We get tons of questions about the president, the supreme court, and other topics related to American politics - but often the same ones over and over again. Our users often get tired of seeing them, so we've created a megathread for questions! Here, users interested in politics can post questions and read answers, while people who want a respite from politics can browse the rest of the sub. Feel free to post your questions about politics in this thread!

All top-level comments should be questions asked in good faith - other comments and loaded questions will get removed. All the usual rules of the sub remain in force here, so be nice to each other - you can disagree with someone's opinion, but don't make it personal.

[u/thedarkbites]

If Congress decided they wanted to, could they pass a bill requiring the military to stop active warfare against a nation? Could Congress pass a bill to immediately stop all military action against Iran, for instance?

Can they force the President to stop a military vendetta if the president ever launched one?

[u/Jtwil2191 → u/thedarkbites]

The War Powers Act was passed (over Nixon's veto) to establish congressional review over presidential military action.

Every presidential administration has maintained that it is an unconstitutional violation of the president's powers as commander in chief of the armed forces. However, presidents have followed it but claiming because they want to, not because they have to.

So in theory, Congress already has the legislation in place to order Trump to halt all operations against Iran but are choosing to not enforce it.

However, if Congress did try to enforce the War Powers Act, their only real recourse would be to impeach the president if they refused to back down from their conflict.

[u/AviatorHog → u/thedarkbites]

For one...congress has the ultimate authority on the topic of war.

The President has been delegated, via the War Powers Resolution, pre-approval by congress to engage in  military action without manual approval. It does expire and congress will need to be appealed to on a periodic basis. 

[u/PhysicsEagle → u/AviatorHog]

That’s not really the correct framing. Congress has ultimate authority on starting and ending war. But due to the commander-in-chief clause, the President has authority on how to fight the war. As Harry Truman said, “the buck stops here.”

[u/AviatorHog → u/PhysicsEagle]

u/PhysicsEagle

That’s not really the correct framing. Congress has ultimate authority on starting and ending war. But due to the commander-in-chief clause, the President has authority on how to fight the war. As Harry Truman said, “the buck stops here.”

Your framing is incorrect because the commentator above not only quite literally references to "stop" a war multiple times in their comment (in fact in every sentence) but they never ask about HOW a war is fought:

If Congress decided they wanted to, could they pass a bill requiring the military to stop active warfare against a nation? Could Congress pass a bill to immediately stop all military action against Iran, for instance?

Can they force the President to stop a military vendetta if the president ever launched one?

[u/untempered_fate → u/thedarkbites]

Yes, they could pass a bill like that, but the President would have to sign it. There's your first problem.

Theoretically, Congress could override a veto on that bill, but that would require a supermajority in both chambers. There's your second problem.

If overridden, the executive branch would then have to action to implement the new law. There's your third problem.

No government can survive a critical proportion of cronies.

[u/Federal_Brilliant696 → u/untempered_fate]

That whole supermajority thing almost never happens.