Recommendations of the Editorial team
In his recent act of constitutional arson President Donald Trump informed reporters on Friday that asking Congress to authorize war against Iran would actually violate the nation’s fundamental laws.
“No other country has ever done this,” Trump told reporters on the South Lawn of the White House just before leaving for Florida for the weekend, in response to a question about whether he would seek congressional war authorization now that the war has been going on for 60 days. “Most people think this is completely unconstitutional. No other country has done this. We are in the middle of a great victory.”
Trump and the hard-to-justify war
The Constitution is crystal clear: Congress has the power to “declare war, issue letters of marque, and make rules for operations by land and sea.” While presidents have always liberally interpreted the question of what counts as war and what counts as authorization, there is no question as to which branch of government has the power to authorize armed conflict. Congress has formally declared war 11 times in U.S. history, including in World War I and World War II.
60 days and no mandate
The reporter who asked Trump about the congressional authorization question mentioned the two months for a reason. The War Powers Resolution of 1973 requires the president to end the use of military forces against another nation if Congress does not authorize it within 60 days of the start of hostilities. Trump is trying to circumvent the law by telling Congress the conflict is over – arguing that operations ceased when both countries agreed to a temporary ceasefire in early April.
“I’m telling you: When it comes to the War Powers Resolution – many presidents, as you know, have exceeded it,” Trump added on Friday. “It was never used. It was never enforced. And every other president thought it was completely unconstitutional. We feel the same way.”
In the same press round, Trump said he was considering resuming large-scale artillery shelling against Iran to “just bomb them into the ground and finish them off once and for all.” The threat came after he told the press that Iran had made a new offer but that he was “not satisfied” with it. “Let’s see what happens. Iran wants a deal because it essentially has no military left, and it wants to negotiate. But I’m not happy with it.”