America’s Strike On Soleimani Was Illegal

The year 2020 hadn’t existed for 72 hours before #WWIII began trending on Twitter — the result of the assassination of Iran’s General Qasem Soleimani, which many compared with the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand.

On December 27, Iranian-backed militia hit the joint Iraqi-U.S. base in Kirkuk. This sparked retaliatory strikes by the U.S. two days later, which killed 25 militia members.

Supporters of the Iranian-backed militia, then, attempted to storm the U.S. embassy in Baghdad. In response, the Pentagon sent 100 Marines to the embassy and deployed nearly 3,000 additional troops to Kuwait. Then, on January 3, President Donald Trump ordered Soleimani’s assassination in response to the embassy fiasco.

This assassination, however, was flatly illegal.

I don’t mean it violated international laws, but rather it violated U.S. law, specifically the Constitition.

Per Article I, Section 8, only Congress has the power to declare war. Because the president is Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces, it’s been interpreted that he has the authority to use military force without Congress in a national emergency — as in a foreign invasion.

Congress passed the War Powers Resolution (WPR) over President Richard Nixon’s veto, in 1973, to more narrowly…