Prof. Douglas Kriner, author of "Investigating the President: Congressional Checks on Presidential Power," explains in this Washington Post op-ed how public opinion impacts the war powers of both the U.S. president and Congress.
He writes that despite the Constitution dividing war powers between the president and Congress, power has increasingly accrued to the presidency and that since 9/11, Congress would seem to be losing its battles over foreign policy.
"But it’s not that simple. Research finds that public opinion — which both shapes and is shaped by Congress’s reactions — can constrain what presidents want to do," writes Kriner, the Clinton Rossiter Professor in American Institutions in the Department of Government in the College of Arts & Sciences.
Sreang Hok/Cornell University
At center, holding her award, is Abra Geiger ’26, recipient of the 2026 University Relations Campus-Community Leadership Award. Left to right, with her are Erik Herman, creative director of the Free Science Workshop/Ithaca Physics Bus; Kyle Kimball, vice president for university relations; Cassaundra Guzman, McNair Program advisor/coordinator; and Marla Love, Robert W. and Elizabeth C. Staley Dean of Students.
