We can pretend this is different than it is-but look at history since 1945.Congress doesn't declare wars anymore,but we've had plenty of them.Presidents basically tell Congress: "We're doing this,get on board or don't"and Congress passes some "enabling"measure that preempts a constitutional showdown
Right, but the point is it's been illegal the whole time. The fact that they keep doing it doesn't make it less illegal. If Congress does pass one of those measures it's a post hoc legalization, but until then it's illegal
Right, but the people who can do something about it have to care, and not just for their own careers.
The AUMF is one of those enabling measures. The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution was one too.