Val Kilmer Quotes

Since the 1st World War, U. S. Presidents have 18 times asked the Congress for authority to go to war or use military force. The Presidents have never been turned down by Congress.

The power to make war is vested in Congress and not in the President. Congress has no constitutional authority to grant such authority to the president.

The Constitution is very clear on the - on the declaration of war or reacting to international crimes - crimes against nations. It is the role of Congress to debate and authorize this before the President acts precipitously.

The executive has no right, in any case, to decide the question, whether there is or is not cause for declaring war.

Under our Constitution the Congress alone has the power to declare war.

Why are American boys dying in a war the President refuses to call a war, yet commits our forces to it?

The Congress decides when to make war and the President decides how to make war.

We were having problems with the War Powers Act, so I hesitate to use the term war.

Allow the President to invade a neighboring nation, whenever he shall deem it necessary to repel an invasion … and you allow him to make war at pleasure. … If today he thinks it necessary to invade Canada to prevent the British from invading us, how could you stop him? You may see no probability he would say to you, “Be silent!, I see if you don’t.”

The [Mexican] war was unnecessarily and unconstitutionally commenced by the President.

Every American war has brought a struggle between Congress and the Executive over war powers. The Constitution is somewhat annoyingly ambiguous on the point declaring that the President is Commander in Chief but empowering Congress to provide for the common defense, declare war, and raise and support armies.

Not every Congressionally declared war will be remembered as a “good war”, but few if any Presidentially declared wars, if any, will ever be.

There is going to be no involvement of America in war unless it is the result of the Constitutional process that is placed upon Congress to declare it.

During the early Cold War, Truman concluded that inter‐branch deliberations over war and peace were luxuries the country could not afford. The constant threat of Soviet aggression meant that the nation was already at war, and to protect the country, the president had to have the unilateral power to act, with force if necessary, anywhere in the world. Every post‐war president has advanced some version of this claim to justify military action unauthorized by Congress.

The president does not have power under the Constitution to unilaterally authorize a military attack in a situation that does not involve stopping an actual or imminent threat to the nation. As commander in chief, the president does have a duty to protect and defend the United States. In instances of self-defense, the president would be within his constitutional authority to act before advising Congress or seeking its consent.

There are plenty of cases of war being begun before it is declared.

What is not conservative about saying, 'Don't go to war unless we go to war properly with a full declaration of war and no other way?'

I cannot think of any circumstances in which a government can go to war without the support of parliament.

Nine years ago on September 14, 2001, I placed the lone vote against the 'Authorization for Use of Military Force' - an authorization that I knew would provide a blank check to wage war anywhere, at any time, and for any length.

In time of war the laws are silent.

The authority to declare war rests in Congress, not in an out-of-control president.

The Constitution's pretty clear. The Federalist papers are pretty clear... They very specifically delegated the power to declare war to Congress. They wanted this to be a congressional decision; they did not want war to be engaged in by the executive without approval of Congress.

President Bush has said that he does not need approval from the UN to wage war, and I'm thinking, well, hell, he didn't need the approval of the American voters to become president, either.

The constitution vests the power of declaring war in Congress; therefore no offensive expedition of importance can be undertaken until after they shall have deliberated upon the subject and authorized such a measure.

No man has the right to use the great powers of the Presidency to lead the people, indirectly, into war.