Democrats in Congress are demanding President Trump consult them before taking any further military action against Iran. “You’re not a dictator,” wrote a bellicose Nancy Pelosi in a letter to colleagues, slamming Trump.
You have to laugh. Where have these passionate constitutionalists and peace advocates been?
In 2011, incoming Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky vocally opposed President Barack Obama’s military actions against Libya, blasting Congress as an “irrelevancy” for doing nothing to reign in what he called the president’s “unconstitutional war” in that country. When Paul introduced a resolution demanding that Obama consult Congress, the Democratic-led Senate not only killed it, but also basically laughed at Paul for even going there. Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California called Paul’s efforts “too cute by half.”
In 2013, when Obama threatened to attack Syria, Paul introduced a war resolution amendment insisting the president consult Congress. “The Constitution grants the power to declare war to Congress, not the President,” Paul said in a statement then. Paul actually received some Republican support, but the overwhelming majority of Democrats and Congress weren’t having it.
In 2014, Paul said that U.S. military action against the then-rising Islamic State must go through Congress. “Right now this war is illegal until Congress acts pursuant to the Constitution and authorizes it,” Paul said in a statement. Most of his colleagues ignored him.
In 2016, Paul’s presidential campaign focused on making constitutional war a campaign issue. It never became one. Few cared.
In 2017, Paul used his seat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to make sure Trump’s appointees agreed with the Constitution that only Congress can declare war.
In 2017, when Trump ordered missile strikes on Syria, he demanded that Congress hold a vote to declare war.
Curiously, it was only after Trump was elected that more Democrats began to take Paul’s position on constitutional war more seriously, as more Republicans ignored the senator than ever. “The president needs congressional authorization for military action as required by the Constitution, and I call on him to come to Congress for a proper debate,” Paul said in 2017 concerning Trump and Syria. Current 2020 Democratic hopeful Sen. Elizabeth Warren echoed Paul at the time, “The Constitution gives the power to authorize the use of military force to the legislative branch.”
In 2018, the debate over Trump possibly striking Syria led Paul to push for constitutional war again. “We shouldn’t attack Syria without an authorization for war,” Paul told the Washington Examiner. Party leaders, namely House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, ignored Paul’s plea.
In 2019, Paul bluntly told Secretary of State Mike Pompeo: “You do not have the permission of Congress to go to war with Iran. Only Congress can declare war.”
There are more examples. Probably too many for me to list them all here.
Still, it should be clear that for Rand Paul’s entire decade in the Senate, he has consistently characterized both Democratic and Republican presidents who take unilateral military action on behalf of the United States as illegal and has demanded that the executive branch go through Congress. He has done this virtually every time.
For the overwhelming amount of that time, few in Washington have taken Paul’s constitutional concerns seriously. They have considered his constant concern with the Constitution as a nuisance more than anything else.
As Democrats continue to insist on constitutional war regarding Trump and Iran, it’s not hard to imagine them remaining silent if a Democrat had taken out Iran’s top general in the same fashion Trump did. Likewise, the many conservative Republicans who wanted Obama to follow the Constitution in 2013 care about that issue less in this moment.
Paul has been one of the very few (and perhaps only) current members of Congress to spend his career urging all of his colleagues in both parties to obey the Constitution when America wages war.
Will everyone else finally start to listen?
Jack Hunter (@jackhunter74) is a contributor to the Washington Examiner‘s Beltway Confidential blog. He is the former political editor of Rare.us and co-authored the 2011 book The Tea Party Goes to Washington with Sen. Rand Paul.
