Campbell v. Clinton

203 F.3d 19, 340 (D.C.Cir.2000)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

President Clinton (D) announced the commencement of NATO air and cruise missile attacks on Yugoslav targets. D submitted to Congress a report, 'consistent with the War Powers Resolution,' detailing the circumstances necessitating the use of armed forces, the deployment's scope and expected duration, and asserting that he had 'taken these actions pursuant to [his] authority ... as Commander in Chief and Chief Executive.' Congress voted on four resolutions. It voted down a declaration of war 427 to 2, and an 'authorization' of the air strikes 213 to 213, but it also voted against requiring D to immediately end U.S. participation in the NATO operation and voted to fund that involvement. The conflict between NATO and Yugoslavia continued for 79 days, ending on June 10 with Yugoslavia's agreement to withdraw its forces from Kosovo and allow deployment of a NATO-led peacekeeping force. Campbell (P), 31 congressmen, opposed to U.S. involvement in the Kosovo intervention, filed suit prior to termination of that conflict seeking a declaratory judgment that D's use of American forces against Yugoslavia was unlawful under both the War Powers Clause of the Constitution and the War Powers Resolution ('the WPR'). Ps claim that even if D did submit a report sufficient to trigger the WPR on March 26, or in any event was required to submit a report by that date, but nonetheless failed to end U.S. involvement in the hostilities after 60 days. The district court granted D's motion to dismiss. Ps appealed.