Source: https://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-supreme-court/409/929.html
Timestamp: 2019-04-19 19:32:33+00:00

Document:
Petitioners brought this suit for an injunction against disbursements under certain sections of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961. 22 U.S.C. 2318, 2360, 2364(a). Re- [409 U.S. 929 , 930] spondents, as agents of the Chief Executive, made the disbursements in pursuit of our military venture in Vietnam.* Their request for a three- judge court was denied and the Court of Appeals affirmed, 457 F.2d 809, saying that the complaint tendered a 'political question' beyond judicial cognizance.
This would be a difficult case under the regime of Frothingham v. Mellon, 262 U.S. 447 , whose broad language denied a federal taxpayer standing to challenge the constitutionality of a federal statute. But Frothingham was greatly narrowed by our 1968 decision in Flast v. Cohen, 392 U.S. 83 . Flast held that federal taxpayers have standing if the constitutionality of the taxing or spending claims of Art. I, 8, of the Constitution were squarely involved and if the taxpayer can show that 'the challenged enactment exceeds specific constitutional limitations imposed upon the exercise of the congressional taxing and spending power and not simply that the enactment is generally beyond the power delegated to Congress by Art. I, 8.' Id., at 102-103.
The action here, as in Flast, is a challenge by federal taxpayers of a violation of a specific constitutional provision. Actions of the Congress and of the Executive Branch are involved here as in Flast. The question is [409 U.S. 929 , 931] therefore no more 'political' in this case than in Flast.
We added that a bona fide controversy 'as to whether some action denominated political exceeds constitutional authority' cannot be rejected by the courts. Ibid.
Whether after full argument and deliberation we would hold that this case falls in the category of Flast v. Cohen is unknown. But certainly the issue is important and substantial. The provisions in Art. I, 8, cl. 11, which give Congress, not the President, the power to 'declare war' is a specific grant of power that impliedly bars its exercise by the Executive Branch. And the power [409 U.S. 929 , 932] is so pervasive in its reach that it may effect the lives, the property, and well-being of the entire Nation. Arguably the principles announced in Flast v. Cohen control this case.
I would therefore grant the petition and put the case down for oral argument.
[ Footnote * ] I have previously filed dissents in various cases tendering this question, the Court having consistently refused to entertain them. See e. g., Holmes v. United States, 391 U.S. 936 ; Hart v. United States, 391 U.S. 956 ; McArthur v. Clifford, 393 U.S. 1002 .

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