Who's the Commander-in-Chief: Is Congress Going Too Far By Setting a Deadline for U.S. Troops To Leave Iraq?

Some members of Congress are attempting to use the "power of the purse" to place restrictions on the Bush Administration's conduct of the war in Iraq. Those restrictions include a timetable for the withdrawal of U.S. troops and the imposition of benchmarks for the Iraqi government to meet in military affairs. Critics of the proposed requirements argue that Congress is attempting to micromanage the war, thereby infringing on the President's authority as commander-in-chief in violation of the separation-of-powers principle. Proponents of the restrictions contend that Congress has every right to sets conditions on the expenditure of any funds that it appropriates.

This event co-hosted by the Little Rock Lawyers Chapter and the UALR School of Law Students Chapter of The Federalist Society will feature a discussion of these issues. John S. Baker, Jr., J.D. University of Michigan (1972), is the Dale E. Bennett Professor of Law at Louisiana State University Law Center where he teaches Constitutional Law, Criminal Law, Federal Courts, and Jurisprudence. Professor Baker has served as a law clerk in federal district court, an assistant district attorney in New Orleans, and as a consultant to the Justice Department, the U.S Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Separation of Powers, and the Office of Planning in the White House.

Speaker: