The document discusses the President's role as Commander in Chief and the blurring lines between war and peace. It notes that while Congress declares war, the President makes war and runs the military. However, in recent decades Presidents have taken actions like indefinite detention at Guantanamo Bay, drone strikes killing American citizens without declarations of war, raising difficult legal questions about accountability and the limits of the President's authority without Congressional approval.

1. POTUS AS COMMANDER IN CHIEF
Mr. Geib and Mr. Fitz-Patrick
12th Grade Gov. and Econ.
October 29, 2014

2. THE CONSTITUTION
• President might run the
military…
– Generals, admirals,
policy, etc.
• …but Congress only can
declare war.
• President MAKES war,
but only Congress can
START a war.
• Then there is the reality
today…. FDR asks Congress for a Declaration
of War on December 8, 1942.

3. BLURRING THE LEGAL LINES
• Indefinite detention
– “Extraordinary rendition”
– “Enhanced interrogation”
– Guantanamo Bay
• “Enemy combatants”
Protestors in front of White House
decry Guantanamo detainees.

4. THE BLURRING OF WAR AND PEACE
A drone strike Tuesday in Yemen targeted al
Qaeda members in August 2013.

5. BLURRING THE LEGAL LINES
• “Extrajudicial killings”
– Drone strikes in tribal
areas of Pakistan,
Yemen, and Somalia.
– American citizen
– No accountability for
POTUS?
Anwar al-Awlaki
killed September
30, 2011

6. BLURRING THE LEGAL LINES
• Difficult Questions:
– Self-defense? “Illegal”
actions?
– Can the President order
the assassination of an
American citizen without
any other input
(Congress, Supreme
Court)

7. THE BLURRING OF WAR AND PEACE
President Obama and NSA staff watch in real time the assassination of
Osama bin Laden by Navy SEALS in Pakistan on May 2, 2011.

8. THE BLURRING OF WAR AND PEACE
President Obama announces death of Osama bin Laden.