WRIGHT— POWER TO MAKE POLITICAL DECISIONS. 395 



"If unreasonably delayed or refused, the President shall use such means, 

 not amounting to acts of war, as he may think necessary and proper to obtain 

 or effectuate the release." 



Aside from such general acts,®* Congress may authorize a broad 

 use of force by acts or resolutions applying to particular incidents 

 and by declarations of war.®" 



According to Justice Stor^' in IVIartin v. Alott, it belongs to the 

 President himself to interpret the exigencies in which a use of force 

 is justifiable : "° 



" He is necessarily constituted the judge of the existence of the exigency 

 in the first instance and is bound to act according to his belief of the facts. 

 , . . Whenever a statute gives a discretionary power to any person, to be 

 exercised by him upon his own opinion of certain facts, it is a sound rule of 

 construction that the statute constitutes him the sole and exclusive judge of 

 the existence of those facts." 



This case applied to the act of 1795 delegating the President power 

 to call forth the militia, but the same principle would seem valid 

 whatever the source of his authority, whether statute, treaty or 

 the Constitution itself. 



224. Conclusion. 



Thus in practice the President has an exceedingly broad discre- 

 tion to authorize the use of the forces. Under the Constitution 

 he can use the military and naval forces to defend the territory and 

 to protect American citizens abroad and on the high seas. The use 

 of force to protect inchoate citizens, such as Martin Koszta, and 

 inchoate territority such as San Domingo in 1871 is more question- 

 able.^*'^ For the meeting of responsibilities under international 

 law and treaty the President likewise has authority to use the army 

 and navy on the high seas and in foreign territory .^°^ To meet 

 responsibilities under inchoate international law, such as the Monroe 



»8 For legislation authorizing the use of force to meet international re- 

 sponsibilities, see Chap. XII, A. 



»9 Moore, Digest, 7: 109, 155; Wright, Am. Jl. Int. Law, 12: yy. 



100 Martin v. Alott, 12 Wheat. 19. 



101 Corwin, op. cit., pp. 142, 158, and debate there quoted from Cong. 

 Globe, 42 Cong., ist sess., pt. i, p. 294. 



-^^"^ Supra, Chap. XII, A. 



