Boston judge throws out anti-war lawsuit

BOSTON -- A federal judge Monday threw out a lawsuit that sought to bar President Bush from launching an attack against Iraq without a congressional declaration of war.

The lawsuit, filed earlier this month by six Democratic congressmen and three unidentified members of the military and their parents, said that under the Constitution, only Congress can declare war.

The plaintiffs said the congressional resolution approved in October supporting military action in Iraq did not specifically declare war and improperly ceded the decision to Bush.

But U.S. District Judge Joseph Tauro ruled the case could not go forward without "clear, resolute conflict" between the executive and legislative branches that would require a judge's intervention.

Tauro also rejected the contention that the president must have congressional authority to order American forces into combat.

"Case law makes clear that the Congress does not have the exclusive right to determine whether or not the United States engages in war," he said.

Congress has not formally declared a war since World War II. The War Powers Act, passed in 1973 in response to the war in Vietnam and the actions of President Nixon, requires the president to seek congressional approval before or shortly after ordering military action abroad.

John Bonifaz, an attorney for the plaintiffs, called the ruling "simply wrong" and said he will appeal.

"The president is not a king," Bonifaz said, surrounded by a few dozen anti-war demonstrators.