Can Trump Go to War With North Korea? Not Without Congress, Says the New York City Bar Association (Newsweek)
Newsweek, October 11, 2017
Can Trump Go to War With North Korea? Not Without Congress, Says the New York City Bar Association
“President Donald Trump lacks the authority to take military action against North Korea unless that country poses an immediate threat or if Congress grants approval, New York City’s biggest legal group told the president. The president has the authority to take ‘defensive action against an actual or imminent threat’ but the ‘power to authorize other military actions constituting acts of war lies exclusively with Congress, which can act either through a formal declaration of war or other legislation,’ John Kiernan, president of the New York City Bar Association, which has 25,000 members, wrote in a letter announced on Tuesday….Without Congress, the president can deploy forces for just 60 days, thanks to the War Powers Resolution, which Congress adopted in 1973. Since the September 11 attacks, the president can also order the use force against countries that helped plan or carry out those attacks, through the Authorization for the Use of Military Force law. But, as Kiernan noted, North Korea has never been accused of participating in those attacks.”
