On War Powers, Questions Aren’t a Working Substitute for Action

Photograph by Nathaniel St. Clair

On February 28, US President Donald Trump took the United States into a de facto, but not de jure, state of war with Iran. That is, he ordered the US armed forces to strike targets in Iran (the de facto part) without first securing the constitutionally required declaration of war from Congress (the de jure part).

Since then, we’ve seen a lot of questions–and received conflicting and mutually exclusive answers to those questions–from, among others, members of Congress.