Yemen Resolution Sponsor Pushes to Sue Over Trump Veto

Questions whether president actually has right to veto a Congressional matter

The US Constitution makes clear that war declaration is a power exclusively of Congress. Yet earlier this year, both houses of Congress spoke on the Yemen War, declaring it unauthorized and demanding its end. President Trump vetoed that resolution, and insisted the war keeps going.

But can Trump just do that? Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA), the initial sponsor of the Yemen bill, is hoping to challenge that in the Supreme Court, arguing that the nature of the War Powers Act precludes presidential vetoes.

It’s not an unreasonable question to ask the court. The 1952 Steel Seizure Case similarly saw the Supreme Court rejecting a president’s claim of unilateral power as the head of the military in wartime, and Trump is arguing that this same power entitles him to veto the War Powers challenge. The Supreme Court has never ruled on War Powers Act cases before, because the bill has not been substantially used.

This would be a hugely important constitutional case, questioning whether Congress retains the war-making powers it was granted centuries ago, or if the recent custom of letting the president dictate foreign policy has somehow stripped Congress of this authority, as if it somehow atrophied from disuse.



Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is senior editor of Antiwar.com.