Just when it seems like there can’t be any more cruel chaos created by the current administration, the world wakes up to find that the US and Israel have attacked Iran, killing dozens of children and several leaders of that country.
Was this action legal?
Joyce Vance — writing in the Substack Civil Discourse with Joyce Vance — contends that the recent U.S. strike on Iran is likely unlawful under both the U.S. Constitution and the United Nations Charter, arguing the White House has failed to present a convincing self-defense rationale or to adequately brief Congress.
Vance is an American lawyer who served as the United States attorney for the Northern District of Alabama from 2009 to 2017.
Although Vance does not claim to be an expert of the laws of war, she emphasizes that the Constitution grants Congress — not the president — the authority to declare war, and she warns that continued expansion of executive war powers erodes democratic checks and balances.
(As Vance acknowledges, this aspect of executive power has increased over recent decades. Unfortunately, this fact bolsters the use of whataboutism — e.g. “It was legal when Obama did it in Libya,” we heard a Fox News airtime-filler say yesterday. They mention past controversies like that to shrug off both the crisis of a gradually disempowered congress, and the degree to which Trump assumes autocracy today.)
Referencing New York Senator Chuck Schumer’s push for a War Powers Resolution vote, Vance points out that even if many of us favor regime change in Iran, bypassing legal requirements threatens the rule of law and weakens the constitutional framework meant to restrain presidential power.
The above summarizes “The Law of War” by Joyce Vance, Civil Discourse with Joyce Vance, Feb. 28, 2026.
Image of “A Despot’s Crown” by Bobby Sample employs photos released by the U.S. Department of Defense Feb. 28, 2026, of Donald Trump overseeing Operation Epic Fury at Mar-a-Lago [link], and of the USS Frank E. Petersen Jr. (DDG 121) firing Tomahawk land attack missiles during the operation [link].