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Biden’s Strikes in Yemen Are Unconstitutional, Bipartisan Members of Congress Say
(theintercept.com)
this post was submitted on 17 Jan 2024
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Reagan sank the entire Iranian navy for mining the Persian Gulf.
Where were the outcries? These are Russian shills.
The Huthies shot missles at US war ships. Biden clearly has an Article 2 responsibility to defend US troops and US shipping from these assholes.
Maybe burger empire should start respecting territorial waters of other countries and stop sailing its war ships in Yemeni territory.
The Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden are both international waters.
Yes this is a useful Wikipedia article. Especially the point just a little past the first line which specifically rebuts the point you are making:
"The territorial sea is sovereign territory, although foreign ships (military and civilian) are allowed innocent passage through it, or transit passage for straits"
And just to jump ahead to preempt your next argument, innocent passage is defined in the UN convention on the law of the sea here:
https://www.un.org/depts/los/convention_agreements/texts/unclos/part2.htm
Furthermore the Houthis are not making claims that the vessels attacked are violating innocent passage. Only you are for some reason.
Oh hey, could you spell out for us the reason Ansar Allah are disallowing passage for vessels of certain countries through their sovereign waters?
I agree, Reagan's actions were unconstitutional. Pretty much every President since and many before also did unconstitutional things with the military.
US ships can respond defensively, but an act of aggression (i.e. bombing a foreign country) needs Congressional approval. The fact that Presidents have ignored that and Congress let's them get away with it is irrelevant to its Constitutionality.
Congress gave the president this power. It's constitutional, for now. I don't agree with it. But as long as the war powers act is in place this is constitutional. They should take it back. The sooner the better. But this is the best we'll get.
The War Powers Resolution doesn't grant the President powers, it restricts them. The opening text says this (emphasis mine):
The closest is the third, since this was a response to an attack on ships, some of which are from the US. But it specifically says "national emergency," and since the attacks weren't directed at US ships in particular, it doesn't seem like a national emergency to me.
I'm not sure if this part is legally binding, but it does help clarify the rest of the bill. The most cited part is the reporting requirement, but just spelling out the reporting requirement doesn't mean any action by the sitting president is fine.
So my understanding of the bill is that Presidents may not initiate armed conflict without a declaration of war, specific authorization, or national emergency. Since none of those appear to apply, the strike is unconstitutional.
That said, there are so many cases of Presidents violating this resolution (at least in the way I understand it) that there's a argument that precedent makes it functionally legal. I disagree, but that seems to be the strongest defense here.
I'm guessing Biden will get away with it like every other president has, but that doesn't mean it's okay.