Dellums v. Bush - Significance, Iraqi-u.s. Relations, A Congressional Duty, Impact, Further Readings

Dellums v. Bush - Further Readings

Dellums v. Bush - Significance

The ruling perpetuated the courts' position in avoiding disputes between members of Congress and the president over commitment of U.S. military forces abroad. The district court held that it would not assume Congress' role in resolving political questions involving foreign policy. In a string of undeclared wars through the last half of the twentieth century from Korea to Bosnia, debate raged over …

Dellums v. Bush - Iraqi-u.s. Relations

Following a bloody war with Iran in the early 1980s, Iraq turned to the United States for food and trade to revive its devastated economy. Iraqi trade grew significantly throughout the 1980s despite some congressional opposition. Meanwhile disputes increased between Iraq and Kuwait over war debts, oil policies, and, most importantly, location of a shared boundary. On 2 August 1990, Iraq abruptly i…

Dellums v. Bush - A Congressional Duty

U.S. District Judge Harold H. Greene disagreed with most of the government's arguments. As to whether he could judge what constituted a war, Greene in this instance found the military build-up too vast to pose anything less than war requiring "congressional approval . . . if Congress desires to become involved." Disagreeing with the argument that courts could not rule on issues relating to foreign…

Dellums v. Bush - Impact

In a companion case before the same district court, a National Guard officer challenged the president's constitutional authority to assign him to the Persian Gulf without Congress declaring war. A different judge more forcefully applied the political question doctrine in Ange v. Bush (1990) by ruling the court had no legal authority to settle the dispute. Following the two district court decisions…