"Recent legislation proposed in the 115th Congress intended to limit the President's ability to
launch nuclear weapons has prompted heightened attention on Congress's constitutional power
to control the nuclear arsenal. As outlined in earlier CRS products, the Constitution allocates
the authorities necessary to conduct war and other military operations between Congress and
the President. But the precise contours of each branch's respective powers have been the
subject of debate since the founding era. Moreover, courts traditionally have been reluctant to
resolve wartime separation of powers disputes between the legislative and executive branches,
often dismissing these cases on jurisdictional grounds without reaching the merits of the
constitutional challenges.
Against this backdrop of uncertainty, commentators have reached dramatically differing
conclusions on the constitutionality of proposals to restrict the President's power over the
nuclear arsenal. Proponents of congressional authority reason that Congress's many
enumerated war powers—including the power to power "raise and support Armies" and
"provide and maintain a Navy"—necessarily subsume a lesser authority to define how the
President may utilize the forces and weapons that Congress has provided. But proponents of
executive authority often argue that such restrictions would unconstitutionally infringe on the
President's "commander in chief" power to make tactical decisions on how best to subdue an
enemy..."
President and nuclear weapons
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