WRIGHT— POWER TO MAKE POLITICAL DECISIONS. 353 



or by the State of New York in its recent controversy with German insurance 

 companies with relation to the treatment of its own insurance companies by 

 Germany." * 



191. National Power to Make Political Decisions in Foreign Affairs. 



The national government is given by the Constitution political 

 powers, not only directly affecting foreign relations, such as the war 

 power, the treaty-making power, and the power to send and receive 

 diplomatic officers ; but also most powers which might indirectly 

 affect them, such as the powers to regulate foreign commerce, to 

 levy customs duties, and to naturalize aliens. So extensive are 

 these powers that the court has construed them as together con- 

 ferring upon the national government all the powers in foreign rela- 

 tions enjoyed by other sovereign nations.^ 



" The United States are a sovereign and independent nation, and are 

 vested b^ the Constitution with the entire control of international relations, 

 and with all the powers of government necessary to maintain that control and 

 make it effective." 



How are these powers distributed among the departments of 

 government ? 



" It is clear all through the Constitution, and has never been disputed, 

 that the intention was to distribute the powers of the Government between 

 its three branches, subject to such checks as the veto of the President or 

 advice and consent of the Senate ; and not to place any given power in two 

 or all three branches of the Government concurrently. 



" The existence of the same power for the same purposes in both the 

 legislative and executive branches of the Government might lead to most un- 

 fortunate results. For instance, if the legislative and executive branches both 

 possessed the power of recognizing the independence of a foreign nation, and 

 one branch should declare it independent while the other denied its inde- 

 pendence, then, since they are coordinate, how could the problem be solved 

 by the judicial branch? 



" The distinction must be borne in mind between the existence of a con- 

 stitutional' power and the existence of an ability to effect certain results. For 

 instance, Congress alone has the power to declare war. The Executive, how- 

 ever, can do many acts which would constitute a casus belli, and thus indi- 

 rectly result in war ; but this does not imply in the Executive a concurrent 

 power to declare war, and the war which would result would be one declared 

 by a foreign power. It is possible even that the judiciary, by declaring some 

 act of Congress at an inopportune moment to be unconstitutional or otherwise 



^ Sen. Doc. No. 56, 54th Cong., 2d sess., p. 5. 

 »Fong Yue Ting v. U. S., 149 U. S. 698 (1893). 



