This Is an Unnecessary, Unauthorized, and Unconstitutional War
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Current Issue
Politics
/ March 2, 2026
This Is an Unnecessary, Unauthorized, and Unconstitutional War
Congress has a duty to take up War Powers resolutions and assert its primacy over matters of war and peace.
John Nichols
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Protesters gather at Federal Plaza on February 28, 2026, in Chicago, Illinois, to demonstrate against the joint US and Israeli military operation in Iran.
(Jacek Boczarski / Anadolu via Getty Images)
On Saturday morning, after President Trump launched an unnecessary, unauthorized, and unconstitutional attack on Iran, US Representatives Ro Khanna and Thomas Massie did their jobs as members of Congress.
The California Democrat and the Kentucky Republican had already cosponsored a War Powers Act resolution in hopes of thwarting a rush to war with Iran. Now the war was on. Bombs were dropping, missiles flying, and people dying. So the bipartisan team demanded that Congress step up. Khanna immediately announced, “Trump has launched an illegal regime change war in Iran with American lives at risk. Congress must convene on Monday to vote on US Rep. Thomas Massie[’s] & my [War Powers Resolution] to stop this.”
Seeking to force a congressional debate about the war—as Khanna and Massie are doing in the House, and as Tim Kaine (D-VA) has proposed in the Senate—is a vital first step in pushing back against Trump.
It won’t be easy. Despite a notable level of congressional opposition to Trump’s new war, efforts to establish even the most basic counterbalances to presidential war making will face overwhelming odds. House Speaker Mike Johnson, the Louisiana Republican who serves as Trump’s enforcer in the chamber, will do everything in his power to thwart any meaningful effort to renew the constitutionally mandated role of Congress as the arbiter of matters of war and peace. The same goes for the president.
Yet that does not change the fact that Khanna, Massie, and Kaine are doing their constitutional duty.
Like all members of the House, Khanna and Massie took office only after swearing oaths to “support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic.” By reasserting the role of Congress as a check and balance on presidential war making, they are honoring that oath.
Current Issue
March 2026 Issue
The question at this point is whether a sufficient number of House members, and their Senate colleagues, will join them and use their authority under the Constitution to object to Trump’s open-ended attack before it metastasizes into a broader war that could engulf the Middle East.
Even as apologists for executive overreach in general—and …
Are they actually going to vote on something real?
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This Is an Unnecessary, Unauthorized, and Unconstitutional War
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Current Issue
Politics
/ March 2, 2026
This Is an Unnecessary, Unauthorized, and Unconstitutional War
Congress has a duty to take up War Powers resolutions and assert its primacy over matters of war and peace.
John Nichols
Share
Copy Link
X (Twitter)
Bluesky Pocket
Edit
Ad Policy
Protesters gather at Federal Plaza on February 28, 2026, in Chicago, Illinois, to demonstrate against the joint US and Israeli military operation in Iran.
(Jacek Boczarski / Anadolu via Getty Images)
On Saturday morning, after President Trump launched an unnecessary, unauthorized, and unconstitutional attack on Iran, US Representatives Ro Khanna and Thomas Massie did their jobs as members of Congress.
The California Democrat and the Kentucky Republican had already cosponsored a War Powers Act resolution in hopes of thwarting a rush to war with Iran. Now the war was on. Bombs were dropping, missiles flying, and people dying. So the bipartisan team demanded that Congress step up. Khanna immediately announced, “Trump has launched an illegal regime change war in Iran with American lives at risk. Congress must convene on Monday to vote on US Rep. Thomas Massie[’s] & my [War Powers Resolution] to stop this.”
Seeking to force a congressional debate about the war—as Khanna and Massie are doing in the House, and as Tim Kaine (D-VA) has proposed in the Senate—is a vital first step in pushing back against Trump.
It won’t be easy. Despite a notable level of congressional opposition to Trump’s new war, efforts to establish even the most basic counterbalances to presidential war making will face overwhelming odds. House Speaker Mike Johnson, the Louisiana Republican who serves as Trump’s enforcer in the chamber, will do everything in his power to thwart any meaningful effort to renew the constitutionally mandated role of Congress as the arbiter of matters of war and peace. The same goes for the president.
Yet that does not change the fact that Khanna, Massie, and Kaine are doing their constitutional duty.
Like all members of the House, Khanna and Massie took office only after swearing oaths to “support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic.” By reasserting the role of Congress as a check and balance on presidential war making, they are honoring that oath.
Current Issue
March 2026 Issue
The question at this point is whether a sufficient number of House members, and their Senate colleagues, will join them and use their authority under the Constitution to object to Trump’s open-ended attack before it metastasizes into a broader war that could engulf the Middle East.
Even as apologists for executive overreach in general—and …
This Is an Unnecessary, Unauthorized, and Unconstitutional War
Are they actually going to vote on something real?
Log In
Email *
Password *
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Forgot Your Password?
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This Is an Unnecessary, Unauthorized, and Unconstitutional War
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Current Issue
Politics
/ March 2, 2026
This Is an Unnecessary, Unauthorized, and Unconstitutional War
Congress has a duty to take up War Powers resolutions and assert its primacy over matters of war and peace.
John Nichols
Share
Copy Link
Facebook
X (Twitter)
Bluesky Pocket
Email
Edit
Ad Policy
Protesters gather at Federal Plaza on February 28, 2026, in Chicago, Illinois, to demonstrate against the joint US and Israeli military operation in Iran.
(Jacek Boczarski / Anadolu via Getty Images)
On Saturday morning, after President Trump launched an unnecessary, unauthorized, and unconstitutional attack on Iran, US Representatives Ro Khanna and Thomas Massie did their jobs as members of Congress.
The California Democrat and the Kentucky Republican had already cosponsored a War Powers Act resolution in hopes of thwarting a rush to war with Iran. Now the war was on. Bombs were dropping, missiles flying, and people dying. So the bipartisan team demanded that Congress step up. Khanna immediately announced, “Trump has launched an illegal regime change war in Iran with American lives at risk. Congress must convene on Monday to vote on US Rep. Thomas Massie[’s] & my [War Powers Resolution] to stop this.”
Seeking to force a congressional debate about the war—as Khanna and Massie are doing in the House, and as Tim Kaine (D-VA) has proposed in the Senate—is a vital first step in pushing back against Trump.
It won’t be easy. Despite a notable level of congressional opposition to Trump’s new war, efforts to establish even the most basic counterbalances to presidential war making will face overwhelming odds. House Speaker Mike Johnson, the Louisiana Republican who serves as Trump’s enforcer in the chamber, will do everything in his power to thwart any meaningful effort to renew the constitutionally mandated role of Congress as the arbiter of matters of war and peace. The same goes for the president.
Yet that does not change the fact that Khanna, Massie, and Kaine are doing their constitutional duty.
Like all members of the House, Khanna and Massie took office only after swearing oaths to “support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic.” By reasserting the role of Congress as a check and balance on presidential war making, they are honoring that oath.
Current Issue
March 2026 Issue
The question at this point is whether a sufficient number of House members, and their Senate colleagues, will join them and use their authority under the Constitution to object to Trump’s open-ended attack before it metastasizes into a broader war that could engulf the Middle East.
Even as apologists for executive overreach in general—and …
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