WEB DESK / AGENCIES
US President Donald Trump’s decision to launch military strikes on Iran’s nuclear enrichment facilities has sparked sharp criticism from lawmakers across party lines, with several questioning whether the move was constitutional.
While many Republicans, including party leaders, supported the airstrikes, a few conservative voices joined Democrats in warning that Trump may have overstepped his authority by bypassing Congress.
Representative Warren Davidson, a Republican from Ohio and typically a Trump ally, expressed legal doubts. “While President Trump’s decision may prove just, it’s hard to conceive a rationale that’s Constitutional,” Davidson said on X. “I look forward to his remarks tonight.”
Representative Thomas Massie, R-Ky., was more blunt, responding to Trump’s post announcing the strikes with: “This is not Constitutional.” Massie had already introduced a bipartisan resolution earlier in the week to block any U.S. military action against Iran unless explicitly authorized by Congress.
In a televised address from the White House Saturday night, Trump defended the strikes as necessary for national security, but he did not address the legal basis for ordering them without Congressional approval.
Democratic lawmakers were even more forceful in their condemnation. Senator Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., speaking at a rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, called the strikes “grossly unconstitutional.” As chants of “no more war!” erupted from the crowd, Sanders emphasized, “The only entity that can take this country to war is the U.S. Congress. The president does not have the right.”
Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., went a step further, calling the action grounds for impeachment. “The President’s disastrous decision to bomb Iran without authorization is a grave violation of the Constitution and Congressional War Powers,” she said on X. “He has impulsively risked launching a war that may entangle us for generations.”
As debate intensifies on Capitol Hill, the controversy has reignited long-standing tensions over presidential war powers — and the role of Congress in authorizing military force abroad.
House Minority Whip Katherine Clark, D-Mass., was more direct on the legal question.
“The power to declare war resides solely with Congress. Donald Trump’s unilateral decision to attack Iran is unauthorized and unconstitutional,” said Clark, the No. 2 Democrat. “In doing so, the President has exposed our military and diplomatic personnel in the region to the risk of further escalation.”
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., responded by endorsing a resolution by Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., to require congressional approval for Trump to take military action in Iran.
“No president should be allowed to unilaterally march this nation into something as consequential as war with erratic threats and no strategy,” Schumer said in a statement. “We must enforce the War Powers Act, and I’m urging Leader Thune to put it on the Senate floor immediately. I am voting for it and implore all Senators on both sides of the aisle to vote for it.”