Bryce Poole (Advancing American Freedom) has posted Neither War nor Peace? The War Powers Resolution and the Iran War on SSRN. Here is the abstract:
The War Powers Resolution (“WPR”) is supposed to require a President to withdraw troops from “hostilities” if Congress has not authorized the use of force within 60 days. Yet, for more than five decades, the 60-day limit has failed to force a single President to withdraw. Every President since Nixon has called the WPR unconstitutional, and Presidents of both parties have evaded its requirements. The Article analyzes the statutory text, history, and context of the WPR, and uses the Iran War as the clearest illustration of the defects of the WPR, and as the reason to fix it.
The Trump Administration argued that renewed strikes on Iran in July 2026 began a “new” conflict that started a new 60-day clock. The Article shows the argument is flawed because Section 5(b)’s termination requirement begins the moment a report is “required to be submitted” under Section 4(a)(1), not the moment the President elects to submit one. President Trump’s actions as Commander in Chief have violated the WPR. But President Trump is no anomaly; he is the latest President to expose a defect built into the WPR since its enactment over President Nixon’s veto in 1973.
The Article examines five decades of presidential non-compliance with the WPR, and analyzes potential remedies. Because courts have consistently refused to reach the merits of lawsuits alleging violations of the WPR, the remedy must be legislative. The Article analyzes prior attempts to amend the WPR, and proposes an amendment grounded in Congress’ “power of the purse.” The proposed amendment would place Congress on an enforcement mechanism with actual teeth, designed for future Presidents and future conflicts.
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