October 1991 LSAT Section 1 Question 25

It can be inferred from the passage that the War Powers Resolution of 1973 is applicable only in "the absence of a de...

avif on May 26, 2020

Why B? Why not E?

I wrote E as my answer choice why is that wrong? The issue I had with B is that it says that if war is declared congress has implicitly participated. According to the passage doesn't congress explicitly participate in declaring war? Doesn't that make this choice incorrect?

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HannahNg on June 24, 2020

Hey @Avi, I'm not a tutor here but I hope I can help. I'm not sure where u found support for E but nowhere in the passage is it implied that the Constitution already had reporting and consulting requirements for the President to Congress.
So E is out.

The last sentence of the 1st paragraph: "the spirit of the Constitution at least requires that Congress should be involved in the decision to deploy troops, and in passing the War Powers Resolution of 1973, Congress has at last reclaimed a role in such decisions" (lines 20-25). Earlier in that same paragraph, it states that "the Constitution gives Congress the basic power to declare war" (lines 9-10). This suggests that the Resolution is necessary to involve Congress in the decision to employ troops when there hasn't been a declaration of war, because they're already involved in the decision when they pass a declaration of war. The purpose of the Resolution was to ensure that Congress was still involved in the decision to deploy troops, so that's why it only applies when Congress hasn't already been involved in that decision.

That is why B is the correct answer. Hope this helps!

avif on June 26, 2020

Thanks so much! I appreciate it.