The War Powers Resolution was born out of a leak. Congress learned that President Richard Nixon had ordered secret bombings of Cambodia during the Vietnam War without telling lawmakers, and many members concluded they had lost control over when the country fights.
Clement Zablocki, a Democratic congressman from Wisconsin, introduced the bill. It had bipartisan support and a number of military veterans as co-sponsors. Gerald Ford, then a representative, read aloud a telegram in which Nixon threatened a veto over its “dangerous and unconstitutional restrictions.” Nixon vetoed it anyway, and on November 7, 1973, two-thirds of each chamber overrode him.
What the law demands
The terms are short. The president must report to Congress in writing within 48 hours of committing armed forces to hostilities, or of putting them where hostilities are clearly imminent. The report goes to the Speaker of the House and the president pro tempore of the Senate, and has to describe the circumstances, the likely scope and duration, and the legal authority claimed. Forces may not stay beyond 60 days, plus 30 more to withdraw, unless Congress passes an authorization for the use of military force or declares war. The president is supposed to consult Congress regularly until the troops are out.
The Constitution splits war powers. Congress raises armies and writes the rules for the military; the president is commander in chief. The commander-in-chief role is generally agreed to cover repelling attacks on the United States.
Presidents push back
Few presidents have accepted the 60-day clock without argument. The Reagan administration doubted the law’s constitutionality and its effectiveness. State Department legal adviser Abraham Sofaer said its deadlines “creates unwise limitations on Presidential authority to deploy U.S. forces.”
Bill Clinton kept the Kosovo bombing going for more than two weeks past the 60-day mark in 1999. His lawyers argued that Congress had implicitly authorized it by funding the operation, a theory critics found shaky because the resolution says funding does not count as authorization. A member of Congress sued in Campbell v. Clinton, and the D.C. Circuit called the matter a non-justiciable political question.
Libya came in 2011. Hillary Clinton told Congress that Barack Obama’s administration needed no authorization, and the 60th day of combat, May 20, passed without a request. The State Department argued there was no “hostility” in Libya within the meaning of the law, a position that went against the Pentagon’s and the Justice Department’s own legal readings. On June 3 the House voted 268-145 to rebuke Obama. Yale law professor Bruce Ackerman said the White House position “lacks a solid legal foundation.”
Allegations that presidents have violated the resolution are common. None has produced a successful legal action against a president. As of July 2026, the War Powers Resolution Reporting Project counted 135 “48 hour reports” submitted by presidents.
