SNA (Tokyo) — The US Biden administration couldn’t resist the temptation to launch major military strikes against Houthi forces in Yemen. In doing so, it brought renewed attention to the fact that the presidential exercise of war powers has become routinely unconstitutional.

The problem has been highlighted by a number of US lawmakers on both the political right and left.

Kentucky Senator Rand Paul, a frequent critic of policies driven by the military-industrial complex, declared on X that “[once] again, President Biden [is] acting without constitutional authority. Only Congress can authorize military action like this.”

A number of progressive Democrats have also spoken out.

California Congressman Ro Khanna declared that “the President’s strikes in Yemen are unconstitutional. For over a month, he consulted an international coalition to plan them, but never came to Congress to seek authorization as required by Article I of the Constitution. We need to listen to our Gulf allies, pursue de-escalation, and avoid getting into another Middle East war.”

Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib agreed that President Biden “is violating Article I of the Constitution by carrying out airstrikes in Yemen without congressional approval. The American people are tired of endless war.”

It was left to Justin Amash—a former Republican congressman who is now a member of the Libertarian Party—to give a more comprehensive explanation.

He noted that “if President Biden had enough time to form a multinational coalition to plan and conduct strikes in Yemen, then he had enough time to seek and obtain an authorization from Congress as our Constitution requires. Without this authorization, any nondefensive military action is unconstitutional and unlawful.”

Amash continued: “And we know from the White House’s own statement that the US strikes recently launched were nondefensive. The strikes were warned about well in advance and intended to deter, not to stop an incoming attack. Nobody should confuse offensive military action to deter expected future Houthi attacks on shipping lanes with defensive military action to protect the United States and its people from imminent harm.”

His conclusion was that “the separation of powers is critical to both our liberty and our safety, and this fundamental constitutional principle has no more important application than in the domain of making war. It’s past time for Congress to stand up to these rogue presidents.”

A number of alert commentators have pointed out that among the American politicians who have repeatedly argued in the past that the war powers of the presidency are limited was Joe Biden. For example, when then-President Trump ordered strikes against the Islamic Republic of Iran in early 2020, Biden declared that Trump had no authority to do so.

“No president should ever take the United States to war without securing the informed consent of the American people,” Biden argued. “Democracy runs on accountability, and nowhere is it more important than the power to make war and bring peace. You are required to work with Congress, Mr. President. You are required to abide by the War Powers Resolution, Mr. President. And you cannot pursue war with Iran without consent and authority from Congress.”

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