Share:

U.S. Congress: Stop Donald Trump's Unilateral Warmongering!

Any significant military action requires legal authority under both domestic and international law. Normally, domestic law would require the president to seek the approval of Congress, usually through a law authorizing the use of military force (after all, the Constitution gives Congress, not the president, the power to “declare war”).

International law requires the President to seek the approval of the United Nations Security Council before resorting to force unless the host state consents (which it did not) or the action qualifies for the express, but narrow, self-defense exception. Trump did not seek approval in either forum.

Congress must now act again, not only to reject the illegal use of force represented by the decision to kill Soleimani but also to reassert its constitutional role in the decision-making process that takes the nation to war.

If Congress fails to effectively press back against this unconstitutional assertion of unilateral authority, it will set a precedent that will put the greatest destructive power the world has ever known in the hands of a single man.