Fact Check, June 2025 - Democratic Rep. Jerry Nadler ... posted a statement saying that he “remain[s] resolute that, regardless of the outcome, the Trump Administration’s military action against Iran was unconstitutional, as only Congress has the power to authorize the use of military force.”
“I think this is a tough question because practice has strayed so far from the text and original understanding of the Constitution,” Kermit Roosevelt, a professor and constitutional expert at the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School, told us via email. “The Constitution says that Congress has the power to declare war, and the records of the Constitutional Convention are pretty clear that the drafters did not want to give one person the power to take the United States into war. (Presidents are supposed to be able to respond to attacks by using the military, but that’s not relevant to this situation because obviously we were not attacked.) So the president was not supposed to be able to start a war without Congressional authorization. That’s pretty clear. (An authorization for the use of military force is effectively the same thing as a declaration of war, so the fact that Congress has used authorizations rather than declarations after WWII does not matter.) However, presidents have done things that count as acts of war under international law without congressional authorization, like the Libya bombings [under then-President Barack Obama], and no one has stopped them, so our practice has departed from the text and original understanding.”
Michael Waldman, Brennan Center - One thing is clear: Trump’s bombing and regime-decapitation operation in Venezuela was unconstitutional. The Constitution gives Congress, not the president, the power to decide when, where, and against whom the United States goes to war. It’s a core part of our system of checks and balances — and for good reason.
There were no threats to U.S. troops or imminent attack on our country preceding the Venezuela operation. Presidents properly have power to use defensive military force without waiting for a congressional vote. But the use of offensive force is constitutionally permissible only if Congress has authorized action, as it did before the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq.
Congress and the president have pushed and pulled over what constitutes defensive or offensive force. But this was different. It was an attack on a sovereign country and the seizing of its leader, followed by a vow to now “run” Venezuela and exploit its oil. Undertaking hostilities, with all the risks and costs of war, shouldn’t depend on the whims of a single leader.
Sam Smith - Trump is actiing more like a dictator than as a constitutional president and the media has been extraordinarily weak in reporting this issue. The Democratic Party is also far less active and effective than it has been over the past near century. In fact, absent more effective action, America may be observing the end of its 250 years of democracy rather than celebrating its continuation.
MS NOW - President Donald Trump launched military strikes against Iran early Saturday and warned that the “lives of American heroes may be lost” in what he described as a “war,” triggering a swift backlash from lawmakers over his decision to attack without congressional authorization.
In an eight-minute video posted on Truth Social, Trump announced that “the United States military began major combat operations in Iran,” called the operation “massive and ongoing,” and suggested that “the lives of courageous American heroes may be lost and we may have casualties — that often happens in war.”
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