Technically speaking, time just ran out for Donald Trump’s war with Iran. The War Powers Resolution of 1973 gives presidents 48 hours to notify Congress after military action begins, and then has to seek approval from Congress to continue hostilities. Today is Day 62. So will Trump begin to wind down operations over the next 30 days, the withdrawal period specified in the WPR?
Er … no. Presidents have never accepted these limits in the WPR as constitutional, a point to which we’ll return in a moment. First, though, there’s the matter of the clock and what pauses or stops it. And as I have predicted, Trump and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth now argue that the war – and the WPR limit – ended at the ceasefire:
The Trump administration is on course to blow past an initial deadline for congressional approval for the Iran war on the grounds that the ongoing cease-fire stopped the clock on a 60-day deadline—an assertion met with outrage from Democrats and skepticism from Republicans on Capitol Hill.
Under a 1973 law called the War Powers Resolution, the president is required to notify Congress within 48 hours of military action and withdraw U.S. troops 60 days later, unless lawmakers declare war or authorize the use of force. The expectation on Capitol Hill was that the 60-day deadline expires on Friday.
In testimony Thursday before the Senate Armed Services Committee, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the current cease-fire with Iran, which began April 8, stopped the countdown. …
“We are in a cease-fire right now, which our understanding means the 60-day clock pauses or stops in a cease-fire,” Hegseth said. “That’s—it’s our understanding.”
To quote one of my favorite philosophers, Mad Dog Tannen … you thought wrong, dude. The WPR (also called the War Powers Act) does not actually contain any references to pauses or ceasefires, let alone allow them to impact the 60-day window. Section 5(b) is also fairly specific about the necessity of getting an explicit authorization from Congress to continue hostilities before or at the 60-day threshold, except when Congress is physically unable to meet:
(b) Within sixty calendar days after a report is submitted or is required to be submitted pursuant to section 4(a)(1), whichever is earlier, the President shall terminate any use of Untied States Armed Forces with respect to which such report was submitted (or required to be submitted), unless the Congress (1) has declared war or has enacted a specific authorization for such use of United States Armed Forces, (2) has extended by law such sixty-day period, or (3) is physically unable to meet as a result of an armed attack upon the United States. Such sixty-day period shall be extended for not more than an additional thirty days if the President determines and certifies to the Congress in w writing that unavoidable military necessity respecting the safety of United States Armed Forces requires the continued use of such armed forces in the course of bringing about a prompt removal of such forces.
To be specific: the clock starts when presidents order US armed forces into a conflict, and only ends when those forces are withdrawn. Trump has not withdrawn forces during the ceasefire, and technically, this isn’t actually a ceasefire anyway. The US Navy is conducting a very successful blockade of Iran at the moment, and blockades are an act of war. This blockade is a relatively easy affair, thanks to our success in completely destroying Iran’s blue-water navy, but the blockade counts as hostilities.
However, Hegseth didn’t make a legal argument yesterday – he made a political argument. And it landed with the audience that Hegseth intended to reach:
Zoom in: Republicans, including some who have flirted with supporting a war powers resolution, appeared open to Hegseth’s interpretation.
- “It sounds like there’s some wiggle room he provided there for himself,” Sen. Todd Young (R-Ind.) told reporters. “We’ll take a look at whatever they send over.”
- “Presumably, they will communicate that in a formal way,” Young added. “They have, in a very careful way, followed the War Powers Act so far.”
- “I imagine the administration will send us some sort of formal notification saying, ‘Here’s where we think we are under the War Powers,'” Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) said. “Either we want 30 more days, or we don’t think we need additional time because of X, Y, Z.”
Thus we get to the inherent conflict in the WPR. Democrats in Congress have tried repeatedly to pass a bill that would force Trump to pull out of the war, with no success. Republicans have not wanted to interfere with an operation that, despite Democrats’ bloviating, has actually succeeded in reducing the threat Iran poses in the region. It has not yet eliminated it, but it will take longer than 60 days for that to succeed. It tiook several months of attacks to end Moammar Qaddafi’s regime in Libya. If Congress pulls the plug now, Congress will own an outcome that may include Iran’s regime remnants launching nuclear strikes against Israel and others.
The Qaddafi precedent looms large here, too. Barack Obama never followed the WPR in that campaign, refusing to brief Congress or honor the 60-day limit. He argued at the time that the WPR didn’t apply because (a) he never ordered ground troops into Libya, and (b) Obama passed leadership for the operation to European partners, leaving the US to conduct supporting operations under their command. The latter argument contradicted section 8(c) of the WPR, but Democrats refused to act to stop Obama at that time. US air and naval forces fought from March 2011 until October 2011 when Qaddafi fell without any congressional authorization, and against a regime that had been cooperating with the US for several years prior to our attacks.
Presidents simply don’t follow the WPR, except in form only, to prevent unnecessary political friction. They keep Congress informed, but have historically rejected the arbitrary time limits imposed by the WPR as an unconstitutional infringement on executive authority. Hegseth’s argument yesterday is a fig leaf for Republicans on Capitol Hill, and they will use it to prevent any enforcement of the WPR. And even if Congress tried to enforce it, they would have to take Trump to court, where the WPR has never been tested for constitutionality … and Democrats might not want to push this Supreme Court into another precedent-setting decision on the scope of executive authority when it comes to the role of commander-in-chief.
Editor’s Note: For decades, former presidents have been all talk and no action. Now, Donald Trump is eliminating the threat from Iran once and for all.
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