War Powers and the Supreme Court.

Article I, section 8 of the U.S. Constitution grants Congress the power to tax and spend for the common defense, to declare war, to raise and support armies and a navy, and to make rules for the government of such forces. The Constitution (Article II, section 2) makes the president commander in chief and gives him or her the power to make treaties and appoint ambassadors with the advice and consent of the Senate. Although Congress has the power to declare war, from the nation’s beginnings, presidents have claimed the authority to place military troops abroad and to wage war. The United States has been involved in only five declared wars: the War of 1812, the Mexican-American War (1846-1848), the Spanish-American War (1898), World War I (1917-1918), and World War II (1941-1945). Of those, only the War of 1812 was actively debated by Congress before a formal declaration of war was made. Nevertheless, military troops have been deployed more than two hundred times in various military actions abroad.