Bruce Fein, a senior constitutional lawyer known for speaking out when the U.S. Constitution is being trampled on, put forward a forceful argument for how “Congress Can End Trump’s Unconstitutional War in Iran: Legislators Have the Power of the Purse; They Should Use It,” as he titled his article published in The American Conservative on Monday.
Fein emphasizes two key points of law. First, that President Donald Trump’s attack on Iran is not only unconstitutional, but it constitutes “a criminal war of aggression as defined by the postwar Nuremberg Tribunal.” It violates Section 6(a) of the Charter of the Nuremberg International Military Tribunal, which “criminalized wars of aggression or in violation of treaties.” This is the crime for which 12 high ranking Nazi officials were sentenced to death at Nuremberg, he reminds.
Second, just as Congress ended the Vietnam War by prohibiting any further spending on any further acts of war in Southeast Asia, Congress must do the same today.
Fein situated this action in its proper historical context: “All Congress needs today is a fraction of the courage displayed by the 56 signatories to the American Declaration of Independence who signed their death warrants in defense of unalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness 250 years ago….
