Trump's *authority* for boat strikes expires Monday

[Nevilledog]

Expert Backgrounder on War Powers Resolution 60-Day Clock for Boat Strikes Expiring Monday

https://www.justsecurity.org/123717/war-powers-resolution-60-drug-cartels/

On September 4, President Donald Trump sent a letter to Congress in accordance with the War Powers Resolution to report on the September 2 military strike on a vessel in the Caribbean Sea, targeting and killing 11 individuals allegedly engaged in illicit drug trafficking. Since then, the U.S. military has carried out at least 13 additional attacks on vessels in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific, killing more than 60 people that the administration asserts were trafficking drugs into the United States. We focus here on one slice of the domestic legal issues these strikes raise: the statutory requirement that the Executive Branch cease any use of military force without Congressional authorization past Monday, when the War Powers Resolution’s “60-day clock” runs out.

The clock does not authorize force; it is an additional statutory constraint along with the reporting requirements built into the War Powers Resolution. In other words, even when a president is acting under his or her constitutional authority to use force, the statute requires that the operations terminate after 60 days if Congress has not yet approved of the operations.

As former State Department lawyers, both of us have advised Executive Branch officials on the use of force, including the interpretation and applicability of the War Powers Resolution. We have advised policymakers inside the State Department, worked with counterparts at DoD, DOJ, and the intelligence community, and participated in the National Security Council-led interagency Lawyers Group process for coordinating legal views among the national security agencies. (This interagency process was recently described on Just Security by former DoD lawyer Sarah Harrison and former Navy JAG Mark Nevitt.) While past administrations of both parties have contributed to the expansion of the President’s claims to unilateral war-making authority and have often found ways to circumvent the requirements in the War Powers Resolution, this administration’s action – in both substance and messaging – represents an unprecedented expansion of Executive Branch authority over the use of force.

Background on the 60-Day Clock

The War Powers Resolution, enacted in 1973 over President Nixon’s veto, was designed to reassert Congress’ constitutional role in authorizing military action while regulating the president’s conduct in those circumstances where the Executive claims constitutional authority to introduce U.S. forces into hostilities. Nothing in the War Powers Resolution authorizes the use of force. Instead, the clock and the reporting and consultation requirements are additional statutory requirements that all presidents must follow when using force without Congressional authorization as President Trump is doing in this case.

*snip*

[Silent Type]

1. He'll strike boats on Monday and Tuesday just to show he can.

[C_U_L8R]

2. No Congress, No Problem

The Trump will do whatever the fuck it wants. No matter how stupid or immoral.