Waging War: The Clash Between Presidents and Congress, 1776 to ISIS

Barron, a federal appeals court judge, surveys the fraught struggles between presidents and congresses over their war powers since before the creation of American constitutional government in 1787 and up through the Obama administration. . Barron takes strong issue with the claim that presidents trying to circumvent Congress and the legislature trying to limit presidential war-making are recent innovations, showing that neither branch of government has ever allowed the other to declare or wage war without interference. He argues vigorously from the authority of experience as acting assistant attorney general in the Obama Administration’s Office of Legal Council (in which capacity Barron drafted a controversial legal memo authorizing the use of lethal drone strikes against American citizens without due process) that recent presidents have always stopped short of asserting the “sweeping power to run the wars in which they have led the country however they have seen fit.” The book should be read widely by those responsible for the development and implementation of national policies. It’s a fine example of the use of history to illuminate current circumstances and to counter unsupportable claims and arguments about Congress and the president. Agent: Andrew Wylie, Wylie Agency. (Oct.)