The coming national emergency

Some people speculated in March 2020 that Donald was going to declare a national emergency to make the election by mail. Others said that if he lost the election in November he would do it to shut down the transition, which he tried anyway. <br><br>Now, with his national support at an all time low and with the heat of the January 6th inquires and investigations closing in on him, it’s clear he has a new plan. This time it’s a threat to force Congress to create a border wall.<br><br>From the New York Times:<br><br>“WASHINGTON — Former President Donald J. Trump threatened on Friday to use extraordinary presidential powers to seal the southwestern border if Congress fails to appropriate money for his long-promised wall, in what would be his most aggressive use yet of emergency authority in office.<br><br>Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, Mr. Trump said he would declare a national emergency if Democrats continued to refuse to provide funding for the structure, which has been a central theme of his presidency and was a major factor in the partial government shutdown that ended last month.<br><br>The move, which is certain to be challenged in court, would give the president broad powers to bypass Congress and spend taxpayer money on the wall, coming as his approval ratings are at the lowest point of his presidency. It would be the 59th emergency proclamation declared by a president since the National Emergencies Act was adopted four decades ago.”<br><br>So, how would this work, you ask? Presidential emergency powers are granted by Congress. Trump would just have to follow the rules, no? The problem is that the National Emergencies Act of 1976 doesn’t really cover a lot of the details. <br><br>Emergency powers in the US have been in effect since 1776, when George Washington was granted emergency powers to make arrests without warrants and to detain loyalists. However, they also created laws which would limit those powers. This is when Habeas Corpus came out, which says that in order to arrest someone, you need to have a reason and within 24 hours, you need to make it known to the authorities. <br><br>President Lincoln was the first to abuse those powers. He arrested about 40,000 people, including politicians. Nearly 100 years later, congress pardoned all of those who were arrested. It wasn’t until the National Emergencies Act of 1976 that Congress had to sign off on emergency measures every six months. <br><br>The national emergency powers have been in effect 59 times since then, with 30 of them currently in effect. Congress is required to vote on whether to keep them every six months for the last 30 national emergencies. <br><br>In other words, if it happens, expect a lot of court battles in the coming months. But, in the meantime, he gets to do what he wants, within the coming weeks in fact.