The lawsuit, filed earlier this month by six Democratic members of Congress and three unidentified service members and their parents, maintained that only Congress has the constitutional authority to declare war.
The plaintiffs argued that the resolution Congress approved in October supporting military action against Iraq did not specifically declare war and unlawfully ceded the decision to President Bush. One of the plaintiffs, Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., cited the passage of the U.S. Constitution that states: "Congress shall have power ... to declare war."