The founders gave Congress the power to declare war because they thought the executive was the branch “most prone to it,” as James Madison wrote. But it has become far too easy for presidents to deploy force on their own. Their lawyers come up with rationales, Congress doesn’t issue its own legal opinions to push back, as Bob Bauer, a former White House counsel, has pointed out, and the courts try to stay out of it. The War Powers Resolution of 1973 gives presidents a 60-day leash and presidents often go on to say the time limit doesn’t apply when it runs out. (President Barack Obama made that argument to continue his air campaign in Libya, and President Bill Clinton did the same in Kosovo.)