John Yoo is surely right to upbraid some Republicans for inconsistency on the War Powers Resolution ("The GOP Plays Politics With the War Powers Resolution," op-ed, June 17). But his own view appears to be that the Founders intended the military to be the president's private army, subject only to defunding by Congress, which is a very blunt instrument. This is an extraordinary claim and requires extraordinary evidence, which I cannot find in Article II of the Constitution. His selective quoting of Chief Justice Marshall ("any act of Congress 'contrary to the constitution is not law'") is not very helpful in this regard. In the same decision, the Chief Justice also said, "It is emphatically the province and duty of the Judicial Department to say what the law is." Disputes about the constitutionality of a law are to be decided by the courts, not unilaterally by the president.
Jeffrey Kiviat
Marana, Ariz.
Keith Burgess-Jackson, J.D., Ph.D. 