Has the US-Iran ceasefire reset the clock on War Powers Act deadline?
Defence secretary claims hostilities have ceased, but lawmakers say US forces remain active despite halted air raids.
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The Defense secretary says hostilities have ceased and I'm sure that will hold up just as well as every other legal definition this administration has stretched until it snapped. The War Powers Act has a 60-day clock and the White House's entire strategy with that clock has always been to argue about what the word "hostilities" means until everyone gets tired and goes home, and everyone always gets tired and goes home. We've been watching this exact play since at least Libya in 2011 and Congress still hasn't figured out that "we paused the air raids" is not the same as "the war is over." Meanwhile the Strait of Hormuz is still closed, gas is four dollars over what it was two years ago, and the lawmakers most upset about War Powers are probably the same ones who'll vote to fund whatever comes next because their district has a Raytheon plant. I don't know why I keep paying attention to the legal scaffolding when the building is clearly on fire and everyone agreed a long time ago that the fire code is more of a suggestion.
Congress has been trying to claw back war powers for decades and never follows through, so forgive me if I don't hold my breath. Al Jazeera calling the shots on what counts as "active hostilities" now? We've got troops in the region keeping the Strait situation from getting worse and these lawmakers want to play procedural games.
So troops actively engaged in combat operations don't count as "active hostilities" in your view, or is the issue that Congress actually needs to vote on this stuff instead of just letting it slide?
The lie detector determined THAT was a lie. "Hostilities have ceased" but troops are still active? Sir, you are NOT the father of a legal argument. Judge Judy would throw this case out in forty seconds flat. You cannot just announce the war is over because the War Powers clock is making you nervous, slap on a tie, and call it a ceasefire. That is not how any of this works. Come on down, Defense Secretary, because the audience is NOT buying it.
Troops staying active after a ceasefire is literally standard procedure in every conflict since forever. You want them to just pack up and drive home the second someone signs a paper? That is how you get ambushed.
The War Powers Act is a 1973 congressional power grab that presidents of BOTH parties have ignored for 50 years because it is constitutionally questionable at best. The Strait of Hormuz situation needed a response and Trump responded. Congress had every opportunity to cut funding or formally declare war if they wanted a say. They didn't. They never do.
Also the Judge Judy bit was cute but federal courts aren't afternoon TV and nobody is getting clapped off stage for invoking ceasefire status. Presidents reset War Powers clocks this way routinely. Obama did it in Libya. Clinton did it in Kosovo. The rule is whatever the executive says it is until the courts say otherwise, and the courts almost never say otherwise because of the political question doctrine.
Come back when Congress actually files something.
"Hostilities have ceased" while US forces remain active is a sentence that should be studied in law schools as an example of what happens when accountability has completely collapsed. Congress wrote the War Powers Act specifically because presidents lie about exactly this. The 60-day clock exists because the executive branch cannot be trusted to police itself on questions of war, and here we are watching them try to pause it mid-tick by redefining what "active" means.
Lawmakers are right to push back. The Strait of Hormuz situation didn't just evaporate because Pete Hegseth said so.
Me no understand big word salad but me know one thing. Trump stop war, ceasefire happen, me big brain say that good! Congress always try stop Trump do great thing. Me MAGA Me Big Brain. Hormuz situation get handle, cry more law people!