The political system of the United States has it that the three branches of government are independent and co-equal. In all policy issues, both domestic and foreign, the Legislature, the Executive and the Judiciary function separately but in support of the other two. In the War on Terror of the United States of America the three branches of government have each a separate role to do. The Constitution assigns to the President as Chief Executive, the chief command of the armed forces, matters related to foreign relations and the administration of the laws of the land.
He is granted broad powers, such as in the Detainee Treatment Act, when the nation’s security is threatened and is at risk and as Vice President Dick Cheney said, “the Bush administration’s effort to keep the nation safe”. The justification is to “maximize the exercise of power to protect the nation,” because in the War on Terror, the president is vested with the “authority to establish rules related to both the detention and trial of alleged enemy combatants” (Corn, 2008).
Congress is the law maker of the nation. Joint Resolution 23 or the War Powers Resolution of both Houses of Congress, gave the President “specified procedures … regarding military action of the United States … [which is the] responsible policy making that the Constitution assigns to the Congress” (Frye, 2002).
The Courts are the final arbiters on questions of law, put simply the Judiciary interprets the Laws.
In the War on Terror, the Supreme Court overruled both Congress and the President when it “struck down a provision of the Detainee Treatment Act that limited the access to judicial review by detainees in Guantanamo seeking to challenge their classification as enemy combatants” and in another instance when it “struck down assertions of plenary presidential authority to establish rules related to both the detention and trial of alleged enemy combatants” (Corn, 2008).
The Term Paper on The Laws of War
The term “laws of war” refers to the rules governing the actual conduct of armed conflict. This idea that there actually exists rules that govern war is a difficult concept to understand. The simple act of war in and of itself seems to be in violation of an almost universal law prohibiting one human being from killing another. But during times of war murder of the enemy is allowed, which leads one ...
In the War on Terror the three co-equal branches of government are carrying out their constitutional mandates, in their own independent forms to keep the country safe. References Corn, Geoffrey S. (2008, June 18).
Boumediene v. Bush and the Role of the Courts in the War on Terror. Retrieved January 22, 2009 from http://www. worldpoliticsreview. com/article. aspx? id=2310 Frye, Alton. (2002, April 17).
Applying the War Powers Resolution to the War on Terrorism.
Council on Foreign Relations. Retrieved January 22, 2009 from http://www. cfr. org/publication/4514/ Swarns, Rachel L. (2008, December 21).
Cheney Defends Bush on President’s Role. The New York Times. Retrieved January 22, 2009 from http://www. nytimes. com/2008/12/22/us/politics/22veeps. html? Mount, Steven. (2009, January 20).
Constitutional Topic: The Government. US Constitution Online. Retrieved January 22, 2009 from http://www. usconstitution. net/consttop_govt. html
