War Powers
War and the Separation of Powers
A popular way to begin the first day of class in constitutional law in many American law schools is to ask the students what sets the U.S. Constitution apart from all others. Usually, they answer that it’s the clauses that guarantee the freedom of speech,...
Trump’s Syria Airstrikes are Unconstitutional
The Constitution imposes rules about how the United States is to enter a war, and the Trump administration has violated those rules in Syria. THE PRESIDENT AND WAGING WAR Under the Constitution, the Founders intentionally prohibited the Executive branch from having...
The Constitution and War Powers: Not a Presidential Dictatorship
We are long past the point at which constitutional arguments have much hope of restraining the American political class, either at home or abroad. They are still worth making, though, since they serve to show the two major parties’ contempt for American law and...
One Year Later, America’s Airstrike on Syria is Still Illegal
by Michael Zigismund On April 6, 2017, the United States bombed a Syrian airbase. The bombing was in response to a chemical attack immediately thought to be ordered at the behest of Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad just two days before. This bombing was illegal. Even...