Command the armed forces
The President is commander in chief of the Army, Navy, and state militias when called into federal service. Civilian control of the military is built into the office: the top of every chain of command is an elected civilian.
Read the clause itself, verbatim and in plain language, in the in-app Constitution.
The President
How it works in practice
The President directs military operations, but Congress declares war, funds the forces (on two-year appropriationA law permitting federal agencies to spend money. The Constitution forbids any spending without one, Congress's 'power of the purse'.Read the full definition (opens a new tab) at most), and writes military law. The modern boundary runs through AUMFs and the War Powers ResolutionThe 1973 law requiring the President to report the introduction of forces into hostilities within 48 hours and to withdraw them within 60 days absent authorization.Read the full definition (opens a new tab)'s 60-day clock. The deepest cases (Youngstown, 1952) hold that even in wartime the commander-in-chief power does not swallow domestic lawmaking.