The Once Secret Memo That Trump Thinks Justifies His Venezuela Invasion

"President Donald Trump's military operation to capture Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro is flatly illegal under international law and almost certainly illegal under federal law-an unauthorized use of force against a foreign nation that pushes executive power past its breaking point. Yet there is no real chance that the courts will curb it, even as the mission evolves into a possible occupation of Venezuela and an expansion of hostilities to its neighbors."

"This inversion of our constitutional order sets a perilous precedent that even many celebrating Maduro's fall may come to regret. It marks the death knell of the post-World War II settlement that, however imperfect, wrestled the anarchy of war into a framework designed to condition armed aggression on legal justification. The executive branch's consolidation of power now reverberates far beyond the United States' shores as a saber-rattling president abandons any pretense that the law can constrain his resort to military force."

The military operation to capture Venezuela's president violates international law and is almost certainly unlawful under U.S. federal law as an unauthorized use of force. The judiciary is unlikely to restrain the executive, even if the mission expands into occupation or broader regional hostilities. Congress shows no sign of asserting its constitutional war powers, effectively ceding oversight to the president. The consolidation of executive power undermines the post-World War II legal framework that sought to condition armed aggression on legal justification. The administration's legal rationales revive interventionist claims that the United States has a policing right over other nations.

Read at Slate Magazine