1970: Grass
1971: Turf
1972: Punt Bama Punt
2005: Punt Leahy Punt
::::>
::::>These are good points.
::::>But they do nothing to elucidate soon to be Justice Roberts' views on the great Legion Field turf vs. grass debate.
::::>::::>Probably because of the vagaries surrounding what actually constitutes war vs. official declaration of war by Congress. For example, Congress, by joint resolution, declared war on Japan on December 8, 1941, and placed the power to bring it to a successful conclusion in the hands of the President. Accordingly, there was no Congressional joint resolution ending the war. The President declared when the war ended, under provisions of the enabling resolution. Had Congress stipulated that the war would officially cease by congressional resolution, then that would have been binding. But, such laws as the War Powers Act of 1973, have caused vague interpretations and many debates over what actually constitutes "war" (I'm sure any soldier can define that, but as a legal issue, it is still debated). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Declaration_of_war_by_the_United_States Thus, it is difficult for Judge Roberts to give a simple answer to an open question without seeing what constitutional provision or statute is utilized to prosecute a "war". He would have to know under what legal authority a military action is being pursued. And, I think the question that gives Judge Roberts pause, is that if Congress does not exercise its constitutional authority to formally declare war, can it end a military action conducted when Congress has not formally declared war. He'd have to see the circumstances......Leahy's question as to ending a war is too open-ended....
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::::>::::>::::>LEAHY: Let me ask you this question: Does Congress have the power to declare war?
::::>::::>::::>ROBERTS: Of course. The Constitution specifically gives that power to Congress.
::::>::::>::::>LEAHY: Does Congress, then, have the power to stop a war?
::::>::::>::::>ROBERTS: Congress certainly has the power of the purse. And that's the way, as you noted earlier, that Congress has typically exercised...
::::>::::>::::>LEAHY: Yes, but we know, we did that in the Boland amendment. And the Reagan administration, as we found out in the sorry chapter of Iran-Contra, went around that, violated the law, worked with Iran, sold arms illegally to Iran -- I think that's one of the axis of evil today -- to continue the Contra war in Central America.
::::>::::>::::>LEAHY: So the power of the purse -- we've cut off money, but the wars sometimes keep going. Do we have the power to terminate a war? We have the power to declare war. Do we have the power to terminate war?
::::>::::>::::>ROBERTS: Senator, that's a question that I don't think can be answered in the abstract. You need to know the particular circumstances and exactly what the facts are and what the legislation would be like, because the argument on the other side -- and as a judge, I would obviously be in a position of considering both arguments, the argument for the legislature and the argument for the executive. The argument on the executive side will rely on authority as commander in chief and whatever authorities derive from that. So it's not something that can be answered in the abstract.
