On Friday, Harvard Law Professor Emeritus Alan Dershowitz made a constitutional case against requiring congressional approval before limited U.S. military actions. He said the President has done nothing so far that violates the Constitution or the War Powers Act.
The Senate voted to restrict his actions in Venezuela. Five Republicans joined Democrats to demand congressional approval. A number of constitutional lawyers have said the restrictions are unconstitutional, and the War Powers Act is also unconstitutional. Only Congress can declare war, but the president has always been free to conduct military actions.
Appearing on “The Record with Greta Van Susteren,” Dershowitz said the Constitution places no obligation on a president to seek permission or provide prior notice before carrying out discrete, time-sensitive missions.
“There’s nothing in the Constitution that requires prior notice or anything that would limit executive action. Prior notice is a terrible idea in a Congress that’s leaking like a sieve. I don’t think this military action could have been taken as successfully, or the successful action against Osama bin Laden could have been taken successfully if there was prior notice,” Dershowitz told Greta Van Susteren. “Now, that’s very different from ‘We’re running Venezuela now and a kind of claim of military occupation, a continuing military occupation of a country.’ That would be very, very different. But we don’t know what’s going on.”
“We don’t know whether or not the president is doing any more than threatening at this point. And threatening is certainly within the prerogative of Article II power of the president. So at the moment, the president has done nothing to violate either the Constitution or the War Powers Act, even if the War Powers Act is constitutional. And the War Powers Act, to the extent that it constrains the President’s Article II authority, has some very serious constitutional limitations.”
He said it was similar to the unilateral actions Barack Obama took.
“The best precedent would be President Obama sending in special forces to kill, not capture, Osama Bin Laden. And he didn’t seek any prior authorization for that,” Dershowitz added. “He was invading a foreign country without the approval of the foreign country, Pakistan. And that was a one-off. And the capture the other day in Venezuela was also a one-off. So as to that issue, there’s no dispute.”
“We have fought multiple wars, both Democrats and Republican Presidents…without declarations of war.”
Alan Dershowitz emphasized the importance of the President’s ability to order military operations on Friday’s “The Record with Greta Van Susteren.” @AlanDersh @greta pic.twitter.com/soKi76qH2A
— NEWSMAX (@NEWSMAX) January 9, 2026
