The Iran War and the War Powers Debate (Part 1)

President Trump’s February decision to go to war with Iran has produced a negative reaction in Congress and inspired another round in the war powers debate among pundits and legal commentators. Once again, probably more heat has been generated than light. In particular, there is so much emphasis on whether and to what extent Congress has a role under the Constitution that the issue of why Congress has a role gets short shrift. It is as if the commentariat is looking for Congress to simply punch a ticket rather than make a substantive decision. One has the sense that the whole debate is occurring through the wrong end of a very long telescope. In these posts I will apply the position I develop in my 2013 book Long Wars and the Constitution to the case of the Iran War. I start not with any specific clause of the Constitution, but its design with respect to the conduct of diplomacy and foreign affairs. In contrast to war initiation, when this topic arises in litigation the executive…