On September 25, 2001, Deputy Chief in the Office of Legal Counsel John Yoo sent a memorandum to the White House, titled ‘The President’s Constitutional Authority to Conduct Military Operations Against Terrorists and Nations Supporting Them.’ In it, he “collected over one hundred authorities–from the Constitution, statutes, presidential practice, and judicial opinions–to show that the President could legally ‘deploy military force preemptively against terrorist organizations or the States that harbor or support them, whether or not they can be linked to the specific terrorist incidents of September 11.’ Also, he concluded that Congress could do nothing to check the President’s power to respond to the terrorist threat. The first branch of government, Yoo argued without any citation of authority, cannot ‘place any limits on the President’s determinations as to any terrorist threat, the amount of military force to be used in response, or the method, timing, and nature of the response. These decisions, under our Constitution, are for the President alone to make.’ ”
– Jack Goldsmith, The Terror Presidency, Pages 97-98