From Lawfare: White House Submits 48-Hour War Powers Resolution Report Following Response to Jordan Attack

For our look at he extent of executive power in the United States.

Background: What is the War Powers Resolution? 

The War Powers Resolution requires the president to notify Congress within 48 hours of committing armed forces to military action and forbids armed forces from remaining for more than 60 days, with a further 30-day withdrawal period, without congressional authorization for use of military force (AUMF) or a declaration of war by the United States. The resolution was passed by two-thirds each of the House and Senate, overriding the veto of President Richard Nixon.

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On Feb. 4, President Joe Biden released a letter “consistent with the War Powers Resolution” notifying Congress of the U.S. strikes on Feb. 2 against Iran-backed militias in Iraq and Syria. The strikes followed the Jan. 28 attack on the U.S.’s Tower 22 outpost in northeast Jordan that killed three U.S. service members. In the letter, Biden wrote that these most recent strikes were conducted “[i]n response to the continuation of attacks against United States forces since my prior report” issued on Jan. 25—not just in response to the Jordan attack.

According to the letter, the president “directed the strikes in order to protect and defend our personnel and assets who are in Syria, Iraq, and Jordan conducting military operations pursuant to the 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force [AUMF]” and to “degrade and disrupt the ongoing series of attacks against the United States and our partners.” This War Powers Resolution letter is the eighth the Biden administration has submitted since the militias began to escalate their attacks on U.S. forces following Hamas’s attack in Israel on Oct. 7.

Biden stated that the strikes were conducted “pursuant to” his Article II authority and “in accordance with” the 2001 and 2002 AUMFs—consistent with Biden’s last two War Powers Resolution letters on strikes against Iran-backed militias in Iraq and Syria. And as in each of the prior seven letters, President Biden asserted that the strikes were a “necessary and proportionate action consistent with international law” and an exercise of the U.S.’s right to self-defense under Article 51 of the UN Charter.

You can read the report here or below. And you can read the rest of the reports following the strikes against Iran-backed militias in Iraq and Syria here (Jan. 25), here (Jan. 5), here (Dec. 27), here (Nov. 22), here (Nov. 14), here (Nov. 10), here (Oct. 27) or below.