posted June 21, 2025 10:23 PM            

The WPR requires the president to:

Notify Congress within 48 hours of deploying U.S. forces into “hostilities” or situations where hostilities are imminent.

posted June 22, 2025 12:50 PM            

<Casus belli is a Latin term meaning "occasion for war". It refers to an act or event that provokes or is used to justify a war, typically involving direct offenses or threats against the nation declaring the war.>

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casus_belli

With the bombing of Iran, Trump has declared war. Even if he didn't outright say it, the act of bombing is "casus belli". Declaring war without consent from Congress is unconstitutional. But that hasn't stopped the U.S. before. Korea, Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan were all bombed without consent from Congress. So I doubt Trump will actually be impeached based on this. It's still a mess though.

And it goes against everything Trump promised. Didn't he claim that he would settle the war in Ukraine within a day. Didn't he claim that he would bring peace to the Middle East? didn't he say that the U.S. needs to stop with endless wars?

posted June 22, 2025 07:40 PM            

Another Option: Authorizations for the Use of Military Force

However, Congress has passed Authorizations for the Use of Military Force (AUMFs) that give the president the ability to take limited, defined military acts. John Adams was the first president to receive an AUMF from Congress in 1798 during the Quasi-War with France.

Several AUMFs have remained in place from recent conflicts and presidents have cited them as supporting military actions abroad. The AUMF of 1991 gave the president the ability to act against Iraq to enforce United Nations resolutions. Similarly, the AUMF of 2002 stated, “[T]he president is authorized to use the Armed Forces of the United States as he determines to be necessary and appropriate in order to defend the national security of the United States against the continuing threat posed by Iraq.”

In 2011, President Barack Obama ordered a military intervention in Libya without asking for congressional approval. Forces were engaged there for about eight months as the Obama administration argued that its military presence didn’t fall under the War Powers Resolution. In 2013, President Obama took the unusual step of asking Congress to approve intervention in the Syrian civil war, after he initially indicated he had the constitutional powers to order limited military strikes without its approval. Congress then deferred to act in Syria. At the time, the Obama administration argued that it didn’t need congressional authorization under the 2002 AUMF.

In 2017, President Trump ordered missile strikes against Syria after a chemical warfare attack, and supporters including Mitch McConnell felt it was permissible under the 2002 AUMF. The Trump administration argued that the attacks were allowed under the president’s Article II powers to protect the “national security and foreign policy interests of the United States.” Also in 2020, Trump cited the 2002 AUMF as supporting his decision to order a fatal drone strike against Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani, the leader of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) Quds Force.

In recent years, President Joseph Biden also cited the AUMF of 2002 and the same Article II powers asserted by the first Trump administration in taking military actions against Iran-backed militant groups in Iraq, Syria, Yemen, and the Red Sea.

The Biden administration filed reports within 48 hours about its actions to Congress as required by the War Powers Resolution with the caveat the president was acting to “protect United States citizens both at home and abroad and in furtherance of United States national security and foreign policy interests, pursuant to my constitutional authority as Commander in Chief and Chief Executive and to conduct United States foreign relations.”

Scott Bomboy is the editor in chief of the National Constitution Center.

posted June 23, 2025 11:16 AM            

quote:

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Originally posted by PlutoWasHere:
So no comment on Trump's prediction Obama would start a war with Iran because he's an incompetent negotiator?

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