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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsWhat the President Could Do If He Declares a State of Emergency
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2019/01/presidential-emergency-powers/576418/<snip>
Most of his weapons were rhetorical, featuring a mix of lies and false inducementsclaims that every congressional Democrat had signed on to an open borders bill (none had), that liberals were fomenting violent mobs (they werent), that a 10 percent tax cut for the middle class would somehow pass while Congress was out of session (it didnt). But a few involved the aggressive useand threatened misuseof presidential authority: He sent thousands of active-duty soldiers to the southern border to terrorize a distant caravan of desperate Central American migrants, announced plans to end the constitutional guarantee of birthright citizenship by executive order, and tweeted that law enforcement had been strongly notified to be on the lookout for ILLEGAL VOTING.
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It would be nice to think that America is protected from the worst excesses of Trumps impulses by its democratic laws and institutions. After all, Trump can do only so much without bumping up against the limits set by the Constitution and Congress and enforced by the courts. Those who see Trump as a threat to democracy comfort themselves with the belief that these limits will hold him in check.
But will they? Unknown to most Americans, a parallel legal regime allows the president to sidestep many of the constraints that normally apply. The moment the president declares a national emergencya decision that is entirely within his discretionmore than 100 special provisions become available to him. While many of these tee up reasonable responses to genuine emergencies, some appear dangerously suited to a leader bent on amassing or retaining power. For instance, the president can, with the flick of his pen, activate laws allowing him to shut down many kinds of electronic communications inside the United States or freeze Americans bank accounts. Other powers are available even without a declaration of emergency, including laws that allow the president to deploy troops inside the country to subdue domestic unrest.
This edifice of extraordinary powers has historically rested on the assumption that the president will act in the countrys best interest when using them. With a handful of noteworthy exceptions, this assumption has held up. But what if a president, backed into a corner and facing electoral defeat or impeachment, were to declare an emergency for the sake of holding on to power? In that scenario, our laws and institutions might not save us from a presidential power grab. They might be what takes us down.
SWBTATTReg
(22,225 posts)national emergencies...I can't recall all of the crap that went on, it was a whole slew of things going on back then...
Bayard
(22,247 posts)He brings this up at every opportunity, along with his god-given right to do it. Is he trying to set us up for it?
"some appear dangerously suited to a leader bent on amassing or retaining power. " I can see him rounding up Congressional Democrats and imprisoning them. They may not have time to take it to the courts. As the saying goes--if you're not paranoid, you're not paying attention.
techne7319
(173 posts)Who lets an emergency continue for over a month without doing anything about it? If the need for a wall was a true emergency he shouldve done something about it in December. This entire wall thing is just ridiculous at this point. He had 2 years of Republicans in control of Congress to get the wall hes always wanted, and he couldnt. Now the entire country has to deal with crap. Im over it, over his crappy crap crap.