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Congress, the Constitution, and First Use of Nuclear Weapons*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 August 2009

Abstract

This article analyzes the constitutional problems involved in “first use” of nuclear weapons. Its organizing principle is that Congress has a constitutional duty to ensure such control over nuclear weapons that first use (and first strike) is proscribed. After demonstrating that the Constitution requires collective decision-making in important policy decisions, it is recommended that Congress retrieve its delegated power over nuclear weaponry, and also establish a “council of state” within the office of the presidency with which the president must consult before taking important decisions, including those involving nuclear warfare. The council would take a sober “first look” at proposed policies, but the ultimate responsibility would be the president's.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © University of Notre Dame 1986

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References

Notes

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193 There is a “constitutional duty to reduce and, if possible, eliminate the threat that nuclear weapons pose to individual freedom and rights of Americans set out in the Constitution.” Statement of William H. Taft, IV, then General Counsel and now Deputy Secretary of Defense, 15 July 1982, reproduced in ibid., pp. 337, 338. The duty, Taft concedes, rests upon both Congress and the president. At times the executive has employed the “take care” clause of Article II as a grant of power to take action not specifically authorized. See Corwin, E., The President: Office and Powers, 1787–1984, 5th ed., rev. R. Bland, T. Hindson & J. Peltason (1984), pp. 144, 171, 406n7Google Scholar. In 1838 the Supreme Court said in Kendall v. Stokes, 12 Peters 524: “To contend that the obligation imposed on the President to see the laws faithfully executed, implied a power to forbid their execution, is a novel construction of the constitution, and entirely inadmissible” (ibid., p. 613). We may go further and say that a contention that the “take care” duty implies a grant of affirmative powers is contrary to the letter and spirit of the formal constitution, “and entirely inadmissible.”

194 Since this article was written, Dr. Clifford Johnson has refiled his lawsuit: Johnson v. Weinberger, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, 17 June 1986, and the following relevant articles have appeared: Banks, , “First Use of Nuclear Weapons: The Constitutional Role of a Congressional Leadership Committee,” Journal of Legislation, 13 (1986), 1Google Scholar; and Ides, , “Congressional Authority to Regulate the Use of Nuclear Weapons,” Hastings Constitutional Law Quarterly, 13 (1986), 33.Google Scholar