The Lawfare Podcast Lawfare Archive: The National Security Law Podcast Guys Talk Soleimani
Mar 8, 2026
A brisk legal deep dive into the strike that killed Qassem Soleimani and its regional fallout. Conversations cover Iran's strategic gains from U.S. withdrawal and American interests in Iraq. Detailed debate on domestic authority for force, imminence standards, and limits of AUMFs. International law, proportionality, historical analogies, and likely regional escalation are explored.
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Executive Branch Holds De Facto War Powers Check
- The administrative legal framework gives the executive enormous unchecked discretion over military force, with OLC opinions effectively determining what is lawful.
- Steve Vladek warns this creates accountability gaps because Congress and courts have largely abdicated policing Article II boundaries, leaving internal lawyers as the main constraint.
Fix Institutional War Powers Gaps Now
- Reassess institutional checks on executive war powers to restore accountability rather than rely solely on internal legal opinions.
- Steve urges a public conversation about realistic institutional reforms because current norms and lawyer constraints are insufficient.
Prize Cases Still Shape Modern Self Defense Debate
- Article II national self-defense is central to the legality debate, hinging on how we draw offense versus defense and when uses of force amount to 'war.'
- Bobby Chesney explains Prize Cases history and that modern executive practice has pushed low-threshold uses of force into an executive-friendly zone.