Trump calls the War Powers Act unconstitutional. No court has agreed.
After President Donald Trump’s unilateral decision to use the U.S. military to capture Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro, some lawmakers criticized Trump for ordering it without any authorization from Congress.
Trump, in a Jan. 8 Truth Social post, said he has the power to do that, and questioned the constitutionality of a related law.
“The War Powers Act is Unconstitutional, totally violating Article II of the Constitution, as all Presidents, and their Departments of Justice, have determined before me,” Trump wrote.
But Trump went too far by calling the 1973 War Powers Resolution unconstitutional. Courts have repeatedly declined to rule on its constitutionality.
Related Knowledge Center: Democracy and politics
News organizations are scrambling to find a coverage approach that adequately informs the American public about the country’s slide from democracy to authoritarian rule.
Related Knowledge Center: Fact-checking and its detractors
Fact-checking has become a familiar tool for political reporters to hold office-holders and candidates accountable. But critics ask if fact-checkers sometimes miss the forest for the trees, and if the practice often struggles with false equivalency the way conventional political coverage does.