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While the Constitution gives Congress the power to declare war, a long line of modern U.S. presidents, both Democrats and Republicans, have ignored that fact and led the country into war without congressional approval.
And in the recent past, Congress has mounted little resistance to that presidential power grab beyond the weakly symbolic. That’s the likely result in the Senate and the House this week, where a measure to limit President Donald Trump’s power to continue the war in Iran is expected to fail – as similar measures have over many decades.
But, writes Rochester Institute of Technology political scientist Sarah Burns today, “there was a time when Americans saw Congress stand up to a president who unilaterally took the country to war.”
At the tail end of the Vietnam War, Burns writes, “Congress passed the War Powers Resolution of 1973, asserting that it was legislators − not the president − who had the power to declare war.” The measure was vetoed by President Richard Nixon, but lawmakers ultimately overturned the veto with the two-thirds majority vote needed to prevail.
Compared to Congress’ limp response to Trump’s actions in Iran and Venezuela, writes Burns, “it was a breathtaking act of legislative assertion.”
Also: The Conversation is hosting a free webinar later today. We’re talking with three experts in real estate and natural disasters about the ways extreme weather is affecting the cost of homeownership, what climate change has to do with it, and how you can be prepared. Join us on Wednesday, March 4, at 11 a.m. PT/2 p.m. ET. Register here.
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Naomi Schalit
Senior Editor, Politics + Democracy
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Rubble from a police station damaged in airstrikes on March 3, 2026 in Tehran, Iran.
Majid Saeedi/Getty Images
Sarah Burns, Rochester Institute of Technology; Institute for Humane Studies
At the tail end of the Vietnam War, Congress engaged in a breathtaking act of legislative assertion, affirming that lawmakers’ held the power to declare war – not the president.
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Politics + Society
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Gregory F. Treverton, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
A covert US campaign in the mid-20th century helped steer Iran toward the intense anti-American sentiment that has distinguished its government policy for decades.
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Deyanira Nevárez Martínez, Michigan State University
Detroit’s homelessness response system could lose millions of dollars in federal funding for permanent supportive housing as the city’s homelessness rates increase.
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Health + Medicine
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Linda Argote, Carnegie Mellon University; Jeremy M. Kahn, University of Pittsburgh
A new study from a Pittsburgh hospital finds that trauma patients recover faster when emergency medical teams have shared experience working together.
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Economy + Business
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Leila Gautham, University of Leeds; Nancy Folbre, UMass Amherst
Women’s unpaid work at home has declined much more than men’s contributions have increased.
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Science + Technology
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Eric Horstick, West Virginia University
Being left- or right-handed – and the paw, eye, fin and wing equivalents – is a product of genes, development and the environment.
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Marcos Fernandez Tous, University of North Dakota
Artemis II has been plagued by similar issues to those faced by its predecessor, leading NASA to shake up its plan to return humans to the Moon.
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Houlong Zhuang, Arizona State University; Vitor Rielli, UNSW Sydney
AI models are designing new metal alloys that have been 3D-printed and tested in the lab. The results are then fed back into the AI to accelerate alloy discovery.
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International
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Dylan Spencer, Georgia Southern University; Gohar Petrossian, John Jay College of Criminal Justice; Stephen Pires, Florida International University
A review of 133 countries’ ports found a correlation between investment from China and proximity to chokepoints.
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Ethics + Religion
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Neringa Klumbytė, Miami University; Lithuanian Institute of History
Humor has served many functions since Russia’s full-scale invasion, from providing Ukrainians with a sense of escape and hope to spreading news.
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Arts + Culture
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Matt Wilkinson, Coastal Carolina University; Ina Seethaler, Coastal Carolina University
With legend Andre Galvao accused of sexual misconduct, gyms and athletes have been forced to confront a culture of silence, hierarchy and gender blindness in the sport.
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