Elizabeth Jo

speaker

2,299 appearances 6 recordings 1 series first heard Jun 2025 last heard 27 Mar

Elizabeth Jo’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.

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Recordings per month over the last 12 months — 4 in all, peaking in Mar 2026 with 1.

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99% Invisible · Constitution Breakdown #4: Janet Napolitano · 28 Nov 2025 podcast

So I think there's definitely agreement among all three branches that the president has some kind of inherent war power.

The problem is that it's not clear what the limitations of this inherent war power is.

Presumably there's some limit.

Otherwise, that would upend our understanding of the federal government's idea of limited authority.

So there has to be some limit, but it really hasn't been defined.

Well, there's no definitive answer to that question.

Both Congress and the executive branch have asserted their own primacy over who gets to make the final call.

So there are some hints about the extent of war authority in some Supreme Court decisions, but in general, the United States Supreme Court just doesn't want to get involved in making this essentially political determination, who gets to make the final call in deciding when a war is a war.

And so there's always a back and forth between the Congress and the president.

Exactly.

And it's not, I mean, they'd certainly get involved in other highly charged decisions, but war making, they generally

So let me give you an example.

In 2013, the Obama administration considered military intervention in the Syrian civil war after reports that chemical weapons had been used by the Assad regime against its own civilians.

So Obama went on TV in 2013, and he announced that he would actually ask Congress if they would authorize military action in Syria.

Now, what's interesting about Obama's speech is at the same time he's telling the public, I'm going to ask Congress for authorization, he also said this, I believe I have the authority to carry out this military action without specific congressional authorization.

So, you see, Obama's sort of having it both ways.

He's saying, I don't need Congress's permission, but I'm going to be cooperative and I'm going to do it anyway.

And that's been essentially the position of every single modern American president.

I don't have to ask Congress for permission, but, you know, when it's convenient, I will ask Congress for permission, although I don't have to.

And so that's where the War Powers Resolution comes in.

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