
‘Imminent Threat’ Has No Legal Definition. Here’s Why That Matters.
Search the entire text of the War Powers Resolution of 1973 and you will not find a definition of "imminent threat." The phrase appears four times…
War powers are the authorities to take the country into armed conflict. The Constitution divides them: Congress has the power to declare war and fund the military, and the president commands the armed forces. The boundary between the two roles is often disputed, and each branch has claimed more or less authority at different times.
People usually ask when a president may use force without approval from Congress, what the War Powers Resolution requires, how declarations of war differ from authorizations for the use of military force, and how Congress can limit military action.
An independent team explaining how government works

Search the entire text of the War Powers Resolution of 1973 and you will not find a definition of "imminent threat." The phrase appears four times…

On February 28, 2026, President Donald Trump told Americans in a Truth Social video that U.S. forces had begun "major combat operations in Iran." Under the…

Air raid sirens wailed across Israeli cities at 8:15 a.m. On February 28, 2026, as the United States and Israel launched coordinated military strikes against Iranian…

Between September 2025 and early January 2026, U.S. military strikes in Venezuela killed more than 115 people. The Navy seized vessels in international waters. On December…
The mechanism is surprisingly simple. Call it a quarantine instead of a blockade. Frame the operation as sanctions enforcement rather than war. Characterize the…
The president can order a cyberattack on Iran's power grid without asking Congress. But if he wants to send a missile at the same…
The constitutional framework looks simple enough on paper: Congress declares war, the President commands the armed forces. But when President Trump threatens military strikes…
President Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One that the United States would acquire Greenland "whether they like it or not." He offered Denmark…
The United States has never faced this question in modern history: What legal authority does a sitting president have to seize foreign territory by…
Can a president threaten strikes against another country to protect that country's own citizens from their government? The answer from experts is nearly unanimous:…
On January 3, 2026, 150 U.S. aircraft struck military installations in Caracas while Delta Force operators captured President Nicolás Maduro. The administration called it…
Learn when presidents may use military force before Congress votes, how War Powers deadlines work, and how lawmakers and courts can respond.
President Trump sent Delta Force soldiers to arrest Venezuela's leader over the weekend without telling Congress first. Most lawmakers learned about it the same…
On January 5, 2026, Nicolás Maduro walked into a Manhattan federal courtroom, transforming an abstract debate into something courts can no longer ignore. Three…