Court Opinion

ID: 9473868
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 04:41:46.835713+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:43:46.586030
License: Public Domain

GINSBURG, Circuit Judge,
concurring statement:
For the reasons well-stated by Justice Powell, concurring in the judgment in Goldwater v. Carter, 444 U.S. 996, 997-02, 100 S.Ct. 533, 534-37, 62 L.Ed.2d 428 (1979), I would dismiss the “war powers clause” claim for relief asserted by the congressional plaintiffs as not ripe for judicial review: “The Judicial Branch should not decide issues affecting the allocation of power between the President and Congress until the political branches reach a constitu*211tional impasse.” 444 U.S. at 997, 100 S.Ct. at 534.
Congress has formidable weapons at its disposal — the power of the purse and investigative resources far beyond those available in the Third Branch. But no gauntlet has been thrown down here by a majority of the Members of Congress. On the contrary, Congress expressly allowed the President to spend federal funds to support paramilitary operations in Nicaragua. Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1984, Pub.L. No. 98-212, § 775, 97 Stat. 1421, 1453 (1983). “If the Congress chooses not to confront the President, it is not our task to do so.” 444 U.S. at 998, 100 S.Ct. at 534.