Former Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson said the constitutional balance of war powers in the U.S. is broken [1].
This shift in authority matters because it alters the fundamental separation of powers intended by the founders. By moving the decision to enter conflicts from the legislative branch to the executive, the process for initiating military action bypasses traditional democratic oversight [1].
Speaking on MSNBC's Morning Joe program, Johnson said he wrote a recent piece titled "Presidential War Powers: Executive Expansion and Congressional Retreat" [1]. The article was published via the Center on National Security at Georgetown Law [1].
Johnson said that Congress originally held the primary authority to declare war under the Constitution [1]. He said that this power has steadily shifted toward the president over time [1]. This transition represents an expansion of executive reach and a corresponding retreat by members of Congress [1].
According to Johnson, the current state of these powers undermines the constitutional framework designed to prevent a single individual from unilaterally committing the nation to war [1]. He said that the lack of congressional assertion in this area threatens the long-term health of democratic governance [1].
Throughout the discussion, Johnson said that the erosion of these boundaries is not a recent phenomenon but a systemic trend [1]. He said that the legislative branch has allowed its role in war-making to diminish, leaving the executive branch with broad, unchecked discretion in military engagements [1].
“the constitutional balance of war powers in the U.S. is broken”
The argument presented by Johnson highlights a long-standing tension in U.S. governance between the need for executive agility in foreign crises and the constitutional requirement for legislative consent. If the authority to initiate conflict remains centered in the presidency, it reduces the likelihood of a broad national consensus before military intervention, potentially altering the legal and political thresholds for entering foreign wars.
