In the summer of 2020, 15 recognized leaders in US public health gathered to author an article in The Lancet—one of the world’s most eminent medical journals—decrying Donald Trump’s intention to withdraw the US from the World Health Organization, a decision that was later reversed by President Biden before it took effect.
Nearly five years later, one of the opening salvos of Trump’s second term has been to again initiate the process of withdrawing the US from the WHO. The move is already drawing both controversy and the threat of legal challenges.
According to a 1948 joint resolution passed by both houses of Congress, any such withdrawal requires the US to