The National Emergencies Act of 1976 was designed to serve as a last resort should the United States president have to act quickly and decisively in a time of crisis or impending danger.
Presidents have historically misinterpreted, misused, and blatantly abused this statute. The deliberate maltreatment of this law is not unique to any one party or platform; Democrats and Republicans alike have regularly applied the National Emergency Act to situations which did not call for it. President Obama enacted 12 national emergencies in the course of his two terms, 10 of which persist still today and none of which pertained to immediate threats requiring the president to swiftly intervene in order to avert and prevent disaster. The state of emergency declared by President George W. Bush immediately subsequent to the September 11th terrorist attacks (merely one of the 13 he issued in the course of his tenure) is still active eighteen years later, permitting the Commander in Chief heightened control over military actions and affairs. In fact, since the passage of the National Emergencies Act, 59 emergencies have been declared by sitting U.S. presidents and 31 of those are still in effect.
This is almost always the case with national emergencies declared by the president. The vast majority are unnecessary, unwarranted, and unconstitutional attempts to block partisan opposition within the legislature or else to quicken the pace of federal activity under the pretext of catalyzing more effective operation.
Utilizing the National Emergencies Act in situations which the Congress is perfectly capable of expeditiously managing with efficacy handicaps our legislature's ability to legislate. Even those executive orders which are arguably requisite (such as Bush's declaration of emergency after 9/11) last far longer than needed or acceptable, enabling the president to exercise undue power over a much greater period than necessary. Over time, the existence of various states of emergency in relation to a multiplicity of different federal or public domains actively corrodes the Congress' ability and authority and removes our representatives from the process of penning and passing law. This is no accident: The continual implementation of the National Emergencies Act to grant special powers to the president in non-emergent situations supplies him with unmitigated power that he was never intended to have, and this would, of course, incentivize him to install new states of emergency in addition to allowing the old ones to continue with reduced checks and balances. In cases of national emergency, it is substantially easier for a president to do whatever he wishes.
The duty of the president is NOT to complete tasks and pursue those agendas which he believes the Congress is neglecting. His sole responsibility is to execute the laws penned and passed by the legislature. The impetus of the National Emergency Act is to provide alternatives in scenarios wherein the Congress is unable to act or does not have adequate time to do so, not when the Congress is indisposed to take action or refuses to on the basis of political and ideological dissent (these instances being prime examples of the function of checks and balances). This application of the National Emergencies Act is the most recent in a long line of extraconstitutional executive overreach. This law is not intended for the president to fix the legislature’s mistakes or to fill in the gaps. It exists only as a final measure in dire times which demand prompt solutions. This is not one of those times.
There is no national emergency at our Southern border. Data accrued by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection indicates that illegal border crossings have declined steadily over the last decade and have dropped sharply since the year 2000 (with the number of apprehended people sitting at less than a third of what it was twenty years ago). According to the Cato Institute, "The crime rate in the 23 counties along the U.S. border with Mexico is below that of counties in the United States that do not lie along the Mexican border... Illegal immigrants apprehended along the border have a low criminal conviction rate, and the immigration crime of “illegal entry, re-entry” accounted for 42 percent of [total] convictions[;] “other” accounted for 16 percent. "Homicide, manslaughter” accounted for [only] 0.04 percent of all convictions of apprehended illegal immigrants... resident illegal immigrants are less likely to be incarcerated or convicted of crimes than native-born Americans. The estimated nationwide illegal immigrant incarceration rate in 2016 was 47 percent below that of native-born Americans." The United States is not in any sudden or immediate danger, and we are not witnessing an unprecedented or unmanageable influx of illegal immigrants. President Trump wants his own way and has been powerless to get it thus far. This is his response.
This is almost always the case with national emergencies declared by the president. The vast majority are unnecessary, unwarranted, and unconstitutional attempts to block partisan opposition within the legislature or else to quicken the pace of federal activity under the pretext of catalyzing more effective operation.
Utilizing the National Emergencies Act in situations which the Congress is perfectly capable of expeditiously managing with efficacy handicaps our legislature's ability to legislate. Even those executive orders which are arguably requisite (such as Bush's declaration of emergency after 9/11) last far longer than needed or acceptable, enabling the president to exercise undue power over a much greater period than necessary. Over time, the existence of various states of emergency in relation to a multiplicity of different federal or public domains actively corrodes the Congress' ability and authority and removes our representatives from the process of penning and passing law. This is no accident: The continual implementation of the National Emergencies Act to grant special powers to the president in non-emergent situations supplies him with unmitigated power that he was never intended to have, and this would, of course, incentivize him to install new states of emergency in addition to allowing the old ones to continue with reduced checks and balances. In cases of national emergency, it is substantially easier for a president to do whatever he wishes.
The duty of the president is NOT to complete tasks and pursue those agendas which he believes the Congress is neglecting. His sole responsibility is to execute the laws penned and passed by the legislature. The impetus of the National Emergency Act is to provide alternatives in scenarios wherein the Congress is unable to act or does not have adequate time to do so, not when the Congress is indisposed to take action or refuses to on the basis of political and ideological dissent (these instances being prime examples of the function of checks and balances). This application of the National Emergencies Act is the most recent in a long line of extraconstitutional executive overreach. This law is not intended for the president to fix the legislature’s mistakes or to fill in the gaps. It exists only as a final measure in dire times which demand prompt solutions. This is not one of those times.
There is no national emergency at our Southern border. Data accrued by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection indicates that illegal border crossings have declined steadily over the last decade and have dropped sharply since the year 2000 (with the number of apprehended people sitting at less than a third of what it was twenty years ago). According to the Cato Institute, "The crime rate in the 23 counties along the U.S. border with Mexico is below that of counties in the United States that do not lie along the Mexican border... Illegal immigrants apprehended along the border have a low criminal conviction rate, and the immigration crime of “illegal entry, re-entry” accounted for 42 percent of [total] convictions[;] “other” accounted for 16 percent. "Homicide, manslaughter” accounted for [only] 0.04 percent of all convictions of apprehended illegal immigrants... resident illegal immigrants are less likely to be incarcerated or convicted of crimes than native-born Americans. The estimated nationwide illegal immigrant incarceration rate in 2016 was 47 percent below that of native-born Americans." The United States is not in any sudden or immediate danger, and we are not witnessing an unprecedented or unmanageable influx of illegal immigrants. President Trump wants his own way and has been powerless to get it thus far. This is his response.
Certainly, illegal immigration and border security can be considered ongoing issues worth addressing and seeking to limit or rectify. But President Trump's declaration of emergency along the Southern border is nothing more than a gross misapplication of constitutional law in an attempt to skirt the stalwart obstruction of his Democratic counterparts and to reallocate over $8 billion of taxpayer money without Congressional approval. We can acknowledge and seek to amend legitimate border security concerns without instituting a fraudulent state of emergency for the purpose of overriding and undermining legislative authority.
In November 2014, President Trump himself Tweeted, "Repubs must not allow Pres Obama to subvert the Constitution of the US for his own benefit & because he is unable to negotiate w/ Congress [sic]." Donald Trump would be wise to heed his own advice: He must not subvert the Constitution of the U.S. because he is unable to negotiate with congressional Democrats. The House of Representative holds the power of the purse by intentional design. Trump must cooperate with the legislators responsible for the U.S. budget and accept those incidents wherein checks and balances preclude him from doing exactly what he wants to do exactly when he wants to do it.
In November 2014, President Trump himself Tweeted, "Repubs must not allow Pres Obama to subvert the Constitution of the US for his own benefit & because he is unable to negotiate w/ Congress [sic]." Donald Trump would be wise to heed his own advice: He must not subvert the Constitution of the U.S. because he is unable to negotiate with congressional Democrats. The House of Representative holds the power of the purse by intentional design. Trump must cooperate with the legislators responsible for the U.S. budget and accept those incidents wherein checks and balances preclude him from doing exactly what he wants to do exactly when he wants to do it.
Allowing the president to declare sweeping and ambiguous national emergencies on the basis of his personal agenda sets a dangerous exemplar. Can future presidents use national emergency law to develop and enforce policies related to firearms, climate change, healthcare, drugs and opioids, endless foreign military interventions, or private property seizure (a la eminent domain)? These last few presidents have demonstrated that anything can be considered a national emergency in the event that they are unable to broker a deal with Congress.
This national emergency is simply another attempt by yet another chief executive to bypass the legislature with total disregard to constitutional process. Trump supporters should examine the U.S. Constitution and the processes it entails and ask themselves: Do they really love and respect our founding document as much as they claim to? Or is it only relevant when the other guy is at the helm?
“I’m disappointed with both the massive, bloated, secretive bill that just passed and with the president’s intention to declare an emergency to build a wall... How we do things matters. Over 1,000 pages dropped in the middle of the night and extraconstitutional executive actions are wrong, no matter which party does them."
—Senator Rand Paul
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