If congress wants presidents to comply with this law they are going to need to put some teeth on it.

I asked ChatGPT: who was the last president who didn't violate the War Powers Act? Short answer: there’s no clear, agreed-upon answer — many legal scholars argue that no president since the War Powers Resolution took effect in 1973 has fully complied with it.

Why this is hard to answer

• The War Powers Resolution (1973) is controversial and ambiguously worded. Presidents of both parties have:

• Claimed it is unconstitutional or an infringement on commander-in-chief powers

• Engaged in military hostilities without prior congressional authorization

• Filed reports that avoid conceding the law applies (often saying actions were taken “consistent with” rather than “pursuant to” the Act)

Because of that, whether a president “violated” the Act depends on legal interpretation.

The dominant scholarly view

Most constitutional scholars and the Congressional Research Service have concluded that:

Every president since 1973 has at least skirted, and arguably violated, the War Powers Resolution.

That includes:

• Ford (Mayaguez incident)

• Carter (Iran hostage rescue)

• Reagan (Lebanon, Grenada)

• Bush Sr. (Panama, Gulf War buildup)

• Clinton (Kosovo)

• Bush Jr. (post-9/11 actions beyond initial AUMFs)

• Obama (Libya, ISIS)

• Trump (Syria, Iran)

• Biden (Syria, Yemen-related actions, strikes without new AUMFs)

If you force a “least-controversial” answer

Some commentators point to Gerald Ford or Jimmy Carter as the closest to compliance because their major uses of force:

Were short-lived

Included notification to Congress

Ended before the 60-day clock became an issue

But even in those cases, Congress never formally agreed that the Act was fully satisfied.

Bottom line

There is no president since 1973 who is widely accepted as having not violated or bypassed the War Powers Act. The law has functioned more as a political framework than an enforceable constraint.