Fifty four members of Congress, including U.S. Representative Ron Dellums, sued George H.W. Bush in 1990 attempting to halt a preemptive military buildup in the Middle East in response to Iraq's invasion of Kuwait. The plaintiff members of Congress asserted that military action without a declaration of war would be unlawful under U.S. Const. art. I, § 8, cl. 11 of the United States Constitution. The District Court held that, although the plaintiff's claims were plausible, because the President had not yet initiated war-like actions and only 54 members of Congress (53 members of the House and one member of the Senate) were involved in the suit, and not a majority, the dispute was not ripe for adjudication at that time. Accordingly the motion for preliminary injunction was denied.