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Cato Video • May 12, 2020 

# Does the President Have the Power to Start a War? 

War has long been the subject of vigorous debate. The United States Constitution gives Congress the power to declare war and appoints the president as commander-in-chief of the military. When it comes to war, who holds the power to ultimately decide the actions of the United States? Gene Healy, vice president at the Cato Institute; David B. Rivkin Jr., partner at BakerHostetler; and Margaret L. Taylor, governance studies fellow at the Brookings Institution will discuss in this episode: does the president have the power to start a war?

From [Project Sphere](https://projectsphere.org).

[![Creative Commons License](/build/cato_2020/images/creative-commons.svg)](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) 
This work is licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/). 

##### Featuring 

[![Gene Healy](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/author_picture/public/2021-01/Gene%20Healy.jpg?itok=EhkBZWC4)](/people/gene-healy) 

##### [Gene Healy](/people/gene-healy)

Former Senior Vice President for Policy, Cato Institute

![Rivkin portrait](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/author_picture/public/2022-08/rivkin.jpeg?itok=0M6W1Xey) 

##### David B. Rivkin Jr. 

Partner, BakerHostetler

![Margaret L. Taylor portrait](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/author_picture/public/2022-08/margaret-taylor.png?itok=tBeRsPjc) 

##### Margaret L. Taylor 

Fellow in Governance Studies, Brookings Institution