House and Senate Democrats have introduced bills in their respective houses of Congress requiring that the president obtain Congressional approval before launching a nuclear first strike:
Rep. Ted W. Lieu and Sen. Edward J. Markey, both Democrats, introduced legislation on Tuesday that would forbid the president from launching a nuclear strike without first having Congress declare war.
The bill expresses clear doubts in President Donald Trump’s judgment, with the lawmakers saying in a joint release “the crucial issue of nuclear ‘first use’ is more urgent than ever now that President Donald Trump has the power to launch a nuclear war at a moment’s notice.”
This measure appears to be a blind men and the elephant sort of thing if not an instance of Miles’s law. Some see it as an attempting at delegitimizing the president. I see it as Congress reasserting its prerogatives and mitigating the risks in the Trump presidency.
I haven’t looked at the actual text of the bills but I think it should be stripped of any president-specific language and passed.
It takes the election of a malicious, psychopathic cretin to get Congress even to consider doing its job. And they’ll probably still vote it down.
As I say, I’d like to see the measure approved, overriding the president’s veto if necessary. I’d also like to see it reach the Supreme Court which it inevitably would.
I’ve thought the US should adopt a no-first-use policy for a long time. Congress should do that instead IMO.