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The Gulf War and the Constitution

Michael J. Glennon
Spring 1991
Summary: 

Examines the course of the Bush administration's decisions on despatch of US forces to the Gulf, and the 'near-complete irrelevance" of Congress thereto, in order to demonstrate that the War Powers Act of 1973 should be repealed or revised, as Congress clearly lacks the weighty role in the matter of declaration of war that the Constitution intended for it.

Michael J. Glennon is professor of law at the University of California, Davis, Law School. He is former legal counsel to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and is the author of Constitutional Diplomacy.

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