Operation Epic Fury: starting a war with Iran without congressional authorization

On May 19, 2026 the Senate voted 50-47 to discharge S.J. Res. 185, a joint resolution directing the removal of U.S. forces from hostilities against Iran not authorized by Congress; a similar concurrent resolution failed in the House on a tie vote. In June both chambers passed a resolution calling on the president to seek congressional approval before further attacks. Congress gave no authorization for the February 28 strikes.

On February 28, 2026, at the president's direction, U.S. forces struck numerous targets within Iran. In a letter to the Speaker dated March 2, printed as House Document 119-139, the president reported the action to Congress under the War Powers Resolution. He cited no statute or congressional authorization, stating that he 'acted pursuant to my constitutional authority as Commander in Chief and Chief Executive,' and said that despite his administration's repeated efforts at a diplomatic solution, the threat to the United States and its allies 'became untenable.'

At the 60-day deadline the president signed a May 1 letter that said: 'The hostilities that began on February 28, 2026, have terminated.' It added that there had been no exchange of fire between U.S. forces and Iran since April 7. By dating the start of the hostilities, the report made an acknowledgment that, a Brookings study group summary noted, presidents of both parties have historically avoided. Of the War Powers Resolution the president said, 'Every other president considered it totally unconstitutional, and we agree with that,' while the U.S. Navy maintained a blockade to keep Iran's oil tankers from getting out to sea.

Tess Bridgeman, a former deputy legal adviser to the National Security Council, told a Brookings congressional study group that the relevant date for Congress was February 28, the day Operation Epic Fury began, and argued that with a naval blockade in place, continued exchanges of fire and a massive U.S. military presence in the region, the 60-day clock had never stopped. The study group also recalled the Civil War-era Prize Cases, in which the Supreme Court treated a blockade as an act of war, and noted that the administration had not made its precise interpretation public.

Congress tried to assert its role. On May 19 the Senate voted 50-47 to discharge S.J. Res. 185, directing the removal of U.S. forces from hostilities against Iran not authorized by Congress, while a similar concurrent resolution failed in the House on a tie vote. In June both chambers passed a resolution calling on the president to seek congressional approval before launching further attacks.

Documented; the president's own War Powers letters of March 2 and May 1, 2026 fix the February 28 start

Contested on the law: the administration claims Article II authority, says the April 7 ceasefire ended the hostilities and stopped the War Powers Resolution's 60-day clock, and calls that law unconstitutional; a Brookings study group summary notes that individual legislators almost certainly lack standing to sue under Raines v. Byrd

2026-02-28 (strikes); 48-hour War Powers letter 2026-03-02; ceasefire 2026-04-07; 60-day War Powers letter 2026-05-01; Senate discharge vote 2026-05-19; resolution passed both chambers 2026-06