Kimmel, Short, McVay: Case Studies in Executive Authority, Law and the IndividualRights of Military Commanders

摘要

The courts have consistently upheld administrative or disciplinary actions takenagainst senior military officers by the President and his appointed civilian deputies. Congress, likewise, has provided the President and his deputies wide berth by statute to shape and control the military through personnel actions. Congress has enacted such laws pursuant to its Constitutional authority to make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval Forces. The principle of civilian control of the military, by the civilian Commander in Chief and Congress, has prevailed whenever claims of individual rights by senior military commanders have contradicted the President's Constitutional powers as Commander in Chief or Congress's regulatory power. Throughout our national history, the law of the United States has treated military commissions, promotions, specific duty assignments, and other interests of military officers as among the frailest known to the law, subject at all times to the discretion of civilian officials. The President and his deputies have exercised that discretion frequently and dramatically in individual cases.