Was Trump's Iran Attack Illegal? Presidential War Powers, Explained.
President Trump's decision to bomb three nuclear sites in Iran has prompted accusations that he violated the Constitution by carrying out an act of war without congressional authorization. The dispute underscores a split between the apparent intent of the Constitution and how the country has been governed in practice.
While most legal scholars agree that the founders wanted Congress to decide whether to go to war unless the country is under attack, presidents in the modern era have carried out military strikes without authorization from lawmakers. Courts have shied away from weighing in, and Congress has acquiesced rather than impeaching those presidents.
'Was the Iran strike constitutional?' Jack Goldsmith, a Harvard law professor and former senior Justice Department official in the George W. Bush administration, said on Monday. 'I don't know because the constitutional law of war powers is inscrutable.'
Here is a closer look.
What has happened?
Mr. Trump ordered the American military to bomb Iranian nuclear sites, without seeking congressional authorization or claiming there was evidence of an imminent threat.
Threatening further escalation, Mr. Trump has warned Iran that he will respond with more bombings if it strikes back, while musing about pushing for a change in government. But after Iran launched missiles on Monday at a U.S. base in Qatar, Mr. Trump said Iran had given advance warning and there were no injuries. He suggested he wanted to de-escalate.
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