Go Directly to Jail

AP: "Screw the terrorist. This is war."

Allend: "a suspected terrorist is anyone they want to call a suspected terrorist."

AP: "Except that it doesn't. I guess pro-lifers knocked down the World Trade Center."

Senator Ted Kennedy: "Hate Crimes are terrorist acts. They are modern-day lynchings designed to intimidate and terrorize whole communities" LINK

AppyPappy said: "Actually, Koresh was accused of having/disributing an illegal firearm, not just a firearm. A person who is arrested for stealing cars is not the same as a person who owns a car."

And the NRA was vilified for giving aid and comfort to terrorist bombers, not just exercising free speech. The only way that the government can declare a firearm illegal is to infringe the right to keep and bear it.

I believe strongly that the War Powers Act is unconstitutional. But in the 24 years that it has been effect, the Supreme Court has repeatedly declined opportunies to examine it. Until it is struck down, or repealed, it remains the law and has certain consequences.
Under the WPA, the President has the right to take actions which are "acts of war" even before Congress acts. That is what I find highly dubious. However, once Congress acts under the WPA, it is the same as if it had passed a free-standing "Declaration of War." As the Constitution requires, Congres has then spoken, and the power to carry out a war has moved from Congress to the President, who is the Commander-in-Chief.
With regard to the War on Terrorism, Congress DID speak, on 18 September 2002. There is no question of the constitutional ability of President Bush to conduct acts of war now, against terrorists and supporting nations, wherever he chooses.
Your post raises the question of what happens when Congress withdraws its authority. That is no different under the WPA than under a standard Declaration of War, as in WW II. If Congress, at any time and for any reason, withdraws its permission for the President to conduct war, that ends the US participation in that war, on the spot. Such a thing has never happened in US history, but it is possible, and that would be the constitutional result.
Hope this is useful to you.

Congressman Billybob

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