Reading Room Document

April 2018 Airstrikes Against Syrian Chemical-Weapons Facilities

The President could lawfully direct airstrikes on facilities associated with Syria's chemical-weapons capability because he had reasonably determined that the use of force would be in the national interest and that the anticipated hostilities would not rise to the level of a war in the constitutional sense. The OLC does not provide release dates for its opinions, so the release date listed is the date on which the opinion was authored. The original opinion is available at www.justice.gov/olc/opinion/file/1067551/download.

May 31, 2018