Without the limiting principles provided by the Constitution, presidential war power is dangerously unconstrained. When the only limits are set by the executive branch itself, as seems to be the case now, the constitutional system of checks and balances is broken. The Constitution was not designed to leave these questions up to the sole discretion of the president.

Congress has all the constitutional tools needed to impose meaningful limits on presidential power. The question is whether Congress will play its constitutionally assigned role, or once again hand its power to a president.