Il “Commander in Chief”: i poteri di guerra del Presidente degli Stati Uniti

The “Commander in Chief”: the war powers of the President of the United States

Abstract

This paper aims to recall the main steps in the evolution of the war powers of the American President in light of his constitutional role as Commander in Chief. The constitution attributes to the President the command of the armed forces of the United States and to Congress the exclusive power to declare war. Thus, while the President has command of the troops, it is up to Congress to decide whether to go to war, entrusting its conduct to the Commander in Chief. In reality, all almost US military operations are not based on a formal declaration of war, nor do they have congressional authorization to use force, but have been decided unilaterally by the President. The latter, as Commanders-in Chief, claims the full exercise of his war powers, but Congress has adopted procedural tools to ensure its own space in the decision-making process relating to the use of military force.