Elizabeth Goitin
Appearances
Today, Explained
Trump’s emergency powers grab
And then there are four emergency declarations that were issued to impose tariffs on, respectively, China, Mexico, Canada, and then pretty much the whole world. Eight emergency declarations in 100 days.
Today, Explained
Trump’s emergency powers grab
A national emergency declaration is an extraordinarily powerful thing. It unlocks enhanced powers that are contained in 150 different provisions of law, all of which say something like, in a national emergency, the president can do X, or in a national emergency, the president doesn't have to do Y. So these are powers that allow the president to take actions differently.
Today, Explained
Trump’s emergency powers grab
that go beyond what Congress has authorized in non-emergency situations. And in some cases, they allow him to take actions that Congress has expressly prohibited in non-emergency situations. And this can be a very tempting term. tool in order to implement policy in situations where there's not sufficient support from Congress or where Congress has actually prohibited that policy.
Today, Explained
Trump’s emergency powers grab
So emergency powers, you can see why the temptation is there for presidents to use these powers rather than go through the normal policymaking and lawmaking process.
Today, Explained
Trump’s emergency powers grab
I mean, Congress has been providing these powers to the president since the founding. Our current system in which the president declares a national emergency and that declaration unlocks powers that are included in other statutes dates back to World War I.
Today, Explained
Trump’s emergency powers grab
It really evolved organically, this sort of system where Congress would talk about national emergencies and then the president started issuing declarations of national emergency. And in fact, the sort of organic nature of it turned out to be organic. A problem because there was no overarching law that governed the process.
Today, Explained
Trump’s emergency powers grab
And so, you know, there was no time limit on how long an emergency could stay in place. There was no reporting to Congress. This is why Congress in the 1970s enacted the National Emergencies Act. So what the National Emergencies Act did is, first of all, it placed a time limit on how long an emergency declaration could stay in place without being renewed by the president.
Today, Explained
Trump’s emergency powers grab
The NEA also, as originally enacted, gave Congress the power to terminate. an emergency declaration using something that was called a legislative veto. And that's a law that goes into effect with a simple majority of both houses of Congress and without the president's signature.
Today, Explained
Trump’s emergency powers grab
And that was a ready means for Congress to shut down an emergency declaration that was either inappropriate or was lasting too long. But then in 1983, the Supreme Court held that legislative vetoes are unconstitutional.
Today, Explained
Trump’s emergency powers grab
And so today, if Congress wants to terminate an emergency declaration, it basically has to pass a law by a veto-proof supermajority, which is, you know, next to impossible in today's political climate.
Today, Explained
Trump’s emergency powers grab
Yeah, well, some of them, if you look at these 150 powers that are at the president's disposal in a national emergency, a lot of them really do seem reasonable just on their face. They seem measured, something that you would want and expect the president to have. But some of them really do seem like the stuff of authoritarian regimes, right?
Today, Explained
Trump’s emergency powers grab
There is a law that dates back to 1942 that allows the president to take over or shut down communications facilities. This was last invoked in World War II.
Today, Explained
Trump’s emergency powers grab
Today, it could arguably be used to assert control over U.S.-based internet traffic. There's another law, and that's the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, that allows the president to freeze the assets of almost anyone, including a U.S. person. if the president deems it necessary to address a foreign or partially foreign threat.
Today, Explained
Trump’s emergency powers grab
And in fact, the president can also make it illegal for anyone to engage in any financial transactions with that person, including something as simple as renting them an apartment or giving them a job or really even selling them groceries. So these are some really... alarming authorities in terms of the potential for abuse.
Today, Explained
Trump’s emergency powers grab
OK, I'm hired. Thank you. That's it. I'm done. That's my answer. Yes. I mean, Congress made this mistake. I mean, to be fair, Congress did give itself a ready means of terminating emergency declarations. And Congress did not foresee that the Supreme Court was going to take that off the table. However, I think it was a mistake to leave the law in place as it was without that safeguard.
Today, Explained
Trump’s emergency powers grab
So I think it is time, past time, for a reckoning for Congress to not only reform the process, of national emergency declarations and the termination of those declarations, but also to look at some of these individual powers, like the Communications Act. That's the one that allows the president to take over or shut down communications facilities, like the power over domestic transportation.
Today, Explained
Trump’s emergency powers grab
And Congress should put some limits and safeguards on those powers.
Today, Explained
Trump’s emergency powers grab
President Trump declared eight national emergencies in his first 100 days in office. That's a rate that far surpasses any previous president, including Trump himself, during his first term in office. These emergency declarations include a declaration of emergency at the southern border.
Today, Explained
Trump’s emergency powers grab
There's a declaration of an energy emergency. We will drill, baby, drill. A declaration of emergency in order to impose sanctions on personnel at the International Criminal Court.
Today, Explained
Trump’s emergency powers grab
There is an emergency declaration to impose sanctions on drug cartels that have been designated as terrorist groups.