Unknown to most Americans, a vast set of laws gives the president greatly enhanced powers during emergencies.
Unknown to most Americans, a vast set of laws gives the president greatly enhanced powers during emergencies. President Donald Trump’s threats to bypass Congress and secure funding for a wall along the border with Mexico by declaring a national emergency are not just posturing. The Brennan Center, building on previous research, has identified 123 statutory powers that may become available to the president when de declares a national emergency, including two that might offer some legal cover for his wall-building ambitions (10 U.S.C. 2808 (a) and 33 U.S.C. 2293 on our list below). An additional 13 statutory powers become available when a national emergency is declared by Congress.
Below are two tables (for a printable PDF version of both tables, click here). The first lists several important laws that establish general frameworks for different kinds of emergencies (including national emergencies, major disasters, public health emergencies, etc.). The second sets forth the 136 statutory provisions available during national emergencies; it displays these powers by subject matter, specifies the conditions triggering their use, and lists the occasions on which they have been invoked. This table is sortable/searchable by level of restriction on the president’s powers, U.S. code title, and keyword. Our top-line observations from this research may be found here, while our methodology for compiling the database is available here. Separately, we have developed a running list of national emergencies declared since the National Emergencies Act went into effect. And we did a deeper dive into some of these powers in the January/February 2019 issue of The Atlantic.
Emergency-Powers-01Originally published by the Brennan Center for Justice, 01.23.2019, under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivs-NonCommercial license.