It says if the president declares a national emergency "that requires use of the armed forces," the defense secretary "may undertake military construction projects. In the case of Trump's border wall, the president is relying on Section 2808 of the Title 10 U.S. The president could, for example, take over or shut down radio stations or even "suspend a law that prohibits the testing of chemical and biological weapons on unwitting human subjects," the analysis says. What are the powers?Īn analysis by the Brennan Center for Justice, a liberal law and public policy institute, at New York University's School of Law identified 136 statutory powers that emergency declarations could give the president, covering everything from the military and land use to public health and agriculture. The act scaled back the provisions of federal law that granted emergency authority to the president - then about 470 - and was intended to give lawmakers a way to check presidential power. While those emergency powers aren't spelled out in the Constitution, legal scholars say the president is entitled to them under the broadly defined "executive power." Abraham Lincoln used the power to suspend habeas corpus during the Civil War, while Franklin Roosevelt used it to order the internment of more than 100,000 Japanese-Americans during World War II.Ĭongress set out to limit the power after the Watergate scandal with the National Emergencies Act of 1976.
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