AOC howls about impeaching Trump. But president had the authority to bomb Iran. | Opinion
If the president is not able to respond to a hostile regime building weapons that could destroy entire American cities, then I'm not sure what else would allow him to act.
Shortly before 8 p.m. ET on June 21, President Donald Trump announced on Truth Social that the United States had bombed three Iranian nuclear program sites, including the difficult to penetrate Fordow enrichment facility.
After days of deliberation, Trump decided that the only way to ensure Iran could not obtain nuclear weapons was through U.S. military action.
Bombing Iran’s nuclear facilities was strategically the right move and a just action. Iran could not be allowed to obtain a nuclear weapon, and this attack appears to have prevented that in the near term.
However, there is another important question: Was the U.S. attack constitutional?
Did Congress approve Iran bombing? Can Trump legally strike without it?
There has been much debate surrounding the question of whether the president can act militarily without Congress' approval. House members on both sides of the aisle have indicated they think the president needs congressional approval.
“This is not Constitutional,” Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Kentucky, posted on X immediately after Trump announced the strike.
“It is absolutely and clearly grounds for impeachment,” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-New York, stated on X.
It is true that the power to declare war belongs to Congress, but that fact is muddied by legislation governing the president’s authority.
The War Powers Resolution of 1973 requires that the president notify Congress within 48 hours of deploying American troops if a formal declaration of war has not already been declared. The resolution also requires that the president withdraw any forces deployed in a conflict within 60 days if Congress has not formally declared war.
The law was intended as a constriction of presidents’ authority to start a war. Yet, in practice it has done the opposite. Rather than using military action simply to respond to an imminent attack, presidents have read the statute as a license to act for 60 days without congressional approval.
There is a cautious balance in the war powers between the president and Congress. The president is the commander in chief, and the job requires him to deal with immediate threats. Congress is a slow moving body, and cannot possibly react to imminent national defense threats.
Yet, war authority lies with Congress, and the president would need congressional approval to launch a massive ground war in a foreign nation, both practically and constitutionally. The last time Congress formally declared war was in 1942, but it has passed resolutions authorizing force during more recent conflicts.
Trump likely had authority to strike Iran
Trump probably has the facts on his side in this instance. Iran has previously threatened to attack the United States, and it was rapidly approaching the capacity to build a nuclear bomb, according to Israeli intelligence.
If the president is not able to respond to a hostile regime building weapons that could destroy entire American cities, then I’m not sure what else, short of an actual invasion of the homeland, would allow for him to act.
Iran has been attacking American ships through their proxies in Yemen, the Houthis. America has responded with air strikes against them. Striking against Iran directly is no different.
History also is on Trump’s side. President Barack Obama, to cite just one example, acted in the same way by ordering American military action in Libya.
Other experts have pointed out that Iran’s harboring of fugitives involved in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks opens up a different path for congressional approval. The president has the authority to act against nations harboring terrorists who were involved in the largest terror attacks ever launched on American soil.
Trump’s bombing of Iran is not out of line with the actions of past presidents, and it fits within the president's authority to act against imminent threats. While Trump would need congressional approval to launch a prolonged armed conflict against Iran, he has history and the facts on his side in this case.
Dace Potas is an opinion columnist for Paste BN and a graduate of DePaul University with a degree in political science.