Lawmakers and Military Families File Suit Against Bush's Authority to Wage War in Iraq
For Immediate Release - Febuary 13, 2003

Washington, DC - Rep. Jim McDermott(D-WA), along with a coalition of U.S. soldiers, parents of soldiers, and other members of Congress, filed a lawsuit this morning against President George W. Bush and Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld. The lawsuit, filed in Boston, seeks to prevent President Bush from launching a military attack on Iraq without the consent of the U.S. Congress. Congressman John Conyers of Michigan, the ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, is lead plaintiff on the suit.

In October, Congress passed a resolution that gave the President authority to ensure that Iraq does not pose a threat to the United States and complies with United Nations Security Council resolutions regarding Iraq. Many members of Congress-including many who voted in favor of the resolution-say they were not voting to give President Bush the right to declare war. They were voting to enforce inspections and disarmament, steps currently in progress.

"I doubt my colleagues intended to cede their constitutional obligations to this administration in direct violation of our duties to the people of this country," McDermott said.

The suit challenges the authority of the President to wage war against Iraq without a clear declaration of war by the U.S. Congress.

According to Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution, "Congress shall have Power...[t]o declare War." It is on this basis that the plaintiffs have filed suit. Included in the court papers are citations of historical records showing that the authors of the Constitution clearly did not want U.S. presidents to have authority to declare war, as European monarchs had.

Plaintiffs include several parents whose sons are already in the Persian Gulf-including a set of parents living in Washington State-and three members of the Armed Services. Charles Richardson, cofounder of Military Families Speak Out and parent of a member of the National Guard, said, "The President is not a king. If he wants to launch a military invasion against Iraq, he must first seek a declaration of war from the United States Congress."

In addition to the complaint, plaintiffs will seek an immediate hearing on the issue.

"The members of Congress must be the ones to declare a war if there is going to be one," said McDermott. "This is not George Bush's decision, and just because he says it is does not make it so. The people of this country are constitutionally protected from being forced to war without a hearing. Congress must give the people that hearing."

Other plaintiffs are Reps. Dennis Kuchinich (D-Ohio), Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-Ill.), Sheila Jackson-Lee (D-Texas), and Jose Serrano (D-N.Y.).