ABSTRACT
In 1973 the Vietnam War continued raging even as citizens were engaging in ever-stronger protests against it. In response to actions ordered by the president that were inconsistent with the tone of public opinion about the ongoing war and specifically the bombing of enemy positions in Cambodia, Congress enacted the War Powers Act of 1973. The legislative veto included in the War Powers Act has not been directly challenged, but the Supreme Court in Immigration and Naturalization Service v. Chadha, 462 US 919, considered a legislative veto in the immigration context and found it unconstitutional. The experiment known as the War Powers Act was an attempt to increase the communication between Congress and the president but without eliminating the president's ability to react to a military crisis. The War Powers Act may be outmoded, but even if the legislation remains unchanged, it will have far-reaching effects on performance of the United States in international politics.
