WASHINGTON – Did President Donald Trump have the legal authority to order the killing of a top Iranian general in Iraq?
The answer depends largely on facts that aren’t publicly known yet. And experts are quick to point out that even if it was legally justified that doesn’t make it the right decision, or one that will be politically smart in the long run. Iran and its allies are vowing revenge.
In its limited explanation so far, the Pentagon said Gen. Qassem Soleimani was “actively developing” plans to kill American diplomats and service members when he was killed in a U.S. drone strike Friday near the Baghdad airport shortly after arriving in the country.
That would appear to place the action within the legal authority of the president, as commander in chief, to use force in defense of the nation under Article II of the Constitution, said Bobby Chesney, a professor at the University of Texas School of Law who specializes in national security issues.
“If the facts are as the Defense Department said, then the president relatively clearly has Article II authority to act in self-defense of American lives,” Chesney said.