S2 Ep148: Is This War Legal? (w/ Tess Bridgeman)
The Illegal News with Sarah Longwell
The Bulwark
4.9 • 3.4K Ratings
🗓️ 7 March 2026
⏱️ 47 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Sarah Longwell talks with Just Security’s Tess Bridgeman about whether the Iran war is legal under the Constitution, the War Powers Resolution, and international law. They discuss how presidents have stretched their authority for decades, why Congress keeps failing to act, and what it means when one man can take the country to war on his own.
Read more from Tess: https://www.justsecurity.org/author/bridgemantess/
Pre-order Sarah’s book, How to Eat an Elephant, coming in September: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/how-to-eat-an-elephant-sarah-longwell/1149619381?ean=9781250464170
Head to https://factormeals.com/illegalnews50off and use code illegalnews50off to get 50% off and free breakfast for a year. Eat like a pro this month with Factor.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello, everyone, and welcome to the illegal news. I'm Sarah Longwell, publisher of the bulwark, |
| 0:05.3 | and the biggest story of the past week is obviously the war in Iran. To help me understand it from a legal |
| 0:10.6 | perspective, today I'm joined by a true expert in the laws of war. Tess Bridgman. How you doing, Tess? |
| 0:18.4 | Hey, Sarah. So good to be with you today. Thanks for having me on. |
| 0:39.2 | All right. So you're the co-editor and chief of just security, which is an online journal of law and policy that focuses on national security and the rule of law. So you're basically the perfect person to talk to us today. You served in the White House as the special assistant to the president and as deputy legal advisor to the National Security Council. You're young to have done all of this stuff. |
| 0:38.6 | I look a little younger than I am, Sarah. Sitting out here in San Francisco, maybe time |
| 0:44.9 | stops. You and me both. I try to keep the cheeks just a little bit so nobody, so I don't age, |
| 0:49.8 | you know. All right. So I have a lot of questions about the illegality or the illegality of what is happening in |
| 0:57.5 | Iran. |
| 0:58.1 | I also want to ask you how this war fits with other military actions. |
| 1:02.7 | The president has led in recent months, including Venezuela, Cuba, and earlier this |
| 1:07.5 | week, Ecuador. |
| 1:08.4 | So let's dive in. |
| 1:09.8 | We are recording this on Friday, March 6th, |
| 1:12.3 | which as it happens is my birthday. Sorry, Tess. Yeah, I know. We're not friends. You know, we don't |
| 1:18.0 | know each other except for this. And so, sorry, you get to spend, this is how I wanted to spend |
| 1:22.6 | my birthday with you. I said, someone getting tests. Talking about war. Let's do it. Talking about war |
| 1:27.4 | and legal powers. All right. So, someone getting tests. Talking about war. Let's do it. Talking about war and legal powers. |
| 1:30.2 | All right. So as of today, it has been about a week since we first bombed Iran, where we all just |
| 1:36.5 | kind of woke up on a Saturday morning and we're like, oh, are we at war? Six Americans have died. |
| 1:42.1 | Dozens of American diplomats and travelers across the Middle East have been stranded and |
| 1:45.9 | unable to evacuate quickly. |
... |
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