I'm Jeffrey Rosen, president and CEO of the National Constitution Center and welcome to We

the People, a weekly show of constitutional debate.

The National Constitution Center is the only

institution in America chartered by Congress to disseminate information about

the US Constitution on a nonpartisan basis.

And today we're here to discuss Smith versus Trump.

This is a lawsuit filed in 2016 in the DC District Court on behalf of Captain Nathan Michael Smith, a US Army captain deployed in Kuwait.

The lawsuit argues that the president and his administration were violating the Constitution by conducting military

operations against ISIS in Iraq and Syria without obtaining

congressional authorization. The original plaintiff was President Obama. He has

now been replaced by President Trump and in this important

discussion we will talk about the constitutional arguments on both sides of this

case. Joining us to discuss it are two of America's leading thinkers on national security law.

Bruce Ackerman is Sterling Professor of Law and Political Science at Yale Law School.

He is helping to represent Captain Smith in the Smith v. Trump case,

and Chris Van Zone is former Deputy White House Council. Captain Smith in the Smith versus Trump case.

And Chris Van Zone is former Deputy White House

Council and National Security Council Legal

Advisor under President Obama.

He helped to defend the case while working

for the Obama administration.

Bruce, Chris, thank you so much for joining.

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