Authorization for Use of Military Force [AUMF] -- the Congressional abdication of the right to declare war
renders the post-Nixon War Powers Resolution "all but irrelevant" (Beck's summation)
"At a stroke, the executive branch would acquire nearly absolute authority to decide when, where, and how the US military would fight. The choice of targets would be left entirely to the president's discretion, so long as he could claim with a straight face [...] that a newly designated enemy had at least 'aided' or 'harbored' anyone who had anything to do with any organization involved in September 11" (373)
"one of the worst self-inflicted wounds in congressional history [and] a blow to American democracy writ large"