Anyway, you're obviously up on the history - how about the law? There was a really interesting article in the Columbia Law Review about 15 years ago entitled "Suppose Congress Wanted a War Powers Act That Worked" - essentially, IIRC, it argued that the fatal flaw in the current WPR was the failure to account for the possibility that executives would just ignore the thing, and explores possibilities for repairing it. And if you want a hint about the current court, Justice Breyer had an article in the Georgetown Law Review way back in 1984 that was rather skeptical of the appropriateness of such legislative vetoes, and instead proposed some substantive alternatives. Not that such a thing would stop him from ruling against a Republican president, of course ;)
That's correct. Driven by their own petty political concerns, they continue to abdicate the powers of Congress, an institution most of them are unworthy of serving.
"The only direct case I know of, Dellums v Bush, didn't really go anywhere."
Of course it didn't. The court won't even hear an argument unless Congress itself brings the action -- not some gaggle of Representatives, staging a dog-and-pony for the rubes back in their districts. Ron Paul, Dan Burton and a dozen or so others tried the same thing 3 years ago, concerning Clinton's violation of the WPR -- with the same predictable result. Ron Paul, btw, disagrees with me about the WPR. He believes it gives away Congressional powers that are non-delegable. Too bad he doesn't have Madison and the Constitutional Convention on his side like I do.
"...it argued that the fatal flaw in the current WPR was the failure to account for the possibility that executives would just ignore the thing..."
The same flaw could be attributed to many provisions of the Constitution itself. For example, what happens if the President ignores his lawful removal from office by the Senate? The Constitution makes no specific provision for this. In the case of the WPR, Congress has some built-in options -- it can take the dispute to court as a body or it can initiate impeachment proceedings -- if it has the will to do so. I would never deny that some very bright students write for these law reviews, but what it all comes down to is whether the Congress is willing to stand up for its own laws or not.