1 00:00:00,080 --> 00:00:03,320 Speaker 1: And now time for our daily Bloomberg Lab Brief, exploring 2 00:00:03,400 --> 00:00:06,440 Speaker 1: legal issues in the news. Today, Bloomberg Law hosts Michael 3 00:00:06,440 --> 00:00:10,280 Speaker 1: Best and Greg Store discussed the constitutionality of President Trump's 4 00:00:10,280 --> 00:00:13,440 Speaker 1: attacks on a Syrian air base last week. They speak 5 00:00:13,520 --> 00:00:16,240 Speaker 1: to Michael Glennan, the professor at the Fletcher School at 6 00:00:16,239 --> 00:00:20,000 Speaker 1: Tufts University, and William Banks, director of the Institute for 7 00:00:20,160 --> 00:00:25,239 Speaker 1: National Security and counter Terrorism at Syracuse University Law School. Bill, 8 00:00:25,480 --> 00:00:29,720 Speaker 1: can you explain what your understanding is of what basis 9 00:00:29,720 --> 00:00:33,520 Speaker 1: the President and his administration have articulated UH to say 10 00:00:33,520 --> 00:00:37,640 Speaker 1: that he was authorized to order these strikes. Well, the 11 00:00:37,640 --> 00:00:41,080 Speaker 1: administration so far has done very little to explain the 12 00:00:41,159 --> 00:00:44,400 Speaker 1: legal basis for the strikes. The statement talked about the 13 00:00:44,680 --> 00:00:49,680 Speaker 1: purpose being to deter assade from using chemical weapons and 14 00:00:49,920 --> 00:00:53,400 Speaker 1: also made mention of the fact that the strike it 15 00:00:53,520 --> 00:00:58,720 Speaker 1: was deemed to be proportionate to UH the underlying cause, 16 00:00:58,800 --> 00:01:01,600 Speaker 1: which was the chemic cool weapons attack. Put Neither of 17 00:01:01,640 --> 00:01:05,760 Speaker 1: those offers much of a legal explanation. Well, Mike, what 18 00:01:05,760 --> 00:01:09,760 Speaker 1: what would the president have to show, say, under international 19 00:01:09,840 --> 00:01:15,480 Speaker 1: law to justify a strike like this. Well, under the 20 00:01:15,560 --> 00:01:20,000 Speaker 1: United Nations Charter, use of force or threat of force 21 00:01:20,959 --> 00:01:26,800 Speaker 1: is prohibited absent and armed attack against the state, and 22 00:01:27,360 --> 00:01:30,720 Speaker 1: when a state is the victim of an armed attack, 23 00:01:30,840 --> 00:01:35,039 Speaker 1: it can seek assistance from other states. But there's no 24 00:01:35,160 --> 00:01:39,520 Speaker 1: claim that the United States was acting in this latter 25 00:01:40,000 --> 00:01:46,320 Speaker 1: capacity of collective self defense, coming to aid anybody as 26 00:01:46,319 --> 00:01:50,680 Speaker 1: a third party. The question is whether humanitarian intervention so 27 00:01:50,800 --> 00:01:54,559 Speaker 1: called is permissible under international law, and the answer under 28 00:01:54,600 --> 00:01:58,760 Speaker 1: the Charter, of course is no. There there are two possibilities. 29 00:01:59,040 --> 00:02:02,800 Speaker 1: One is Security Council authorizes the use of force, and 30 00:02:02,880 --> 00:02:07,760 Speaker 1: the other is that you're acting self under under Article 31 00:02:07,840 --> 00:02:11,400 Speaker 1: fifty one in response to an armed attack for purposes 32 00:02:11,440 --> 00:02:15,399 Speaker 1: of self defense, and neither one of those rationale supplies here. 33 00:02:16,280 --> 00:02:19,200 Speaker 1: That's Michael Glennan, the professor at the Fletcher School at 34 00:02:19,200 --> 00:02:22,400 Speaker 1: tuss University, and William Banks, director of the Institute for 35 00:02:22,600 --> 00:02:26,320 Speaker 1: National Security and counter Terrorism at Syracuse University Law School, 36 00:02:26,639 --> 00:02:30,960 Speaker 1: speaking to Bloomberg Law hosts Greg Store and Michael Best. 37 00:02:31,280 --> 00:02:34,280 Speaker 1: You can listen to Bloomberg Law weekdays at one pm 38 00:02:34,320 --> 00:02:38,000 Speaker 1: lall Street time here on Bloomberg Radio. And that's this 39 00:02:38,040 --> 00:02:41,000 Speaker 1: morning's Bloomberg Law Briefing. You can find more legal news 40 00:02:41,040 --> 00:02:44,760 Speaker 1: at Bloomberg Law dot com and Bloomberg Bienna dot com 41 00:02:45,080 --> 00:02:48,800 Speaker 1: that the Ournings will find exceptional legal research and business 42 00:02:48,800 --> 00:02:52,880 Speaker 1: development tools there as well. Visit Bloomberg Law dot com 43 00:02:52,919 --> 00:02:55,560 Speaker 1: and Bloomberg BNA dot com for more information.