![]() "We can call a national emergency because of the security of our country, absolutely," he said on Friday. Then: "We can do it. But as with the opioid crisis, the president's statement may never become a declaration. Now, the president is contemplating a national emergency that few are calling for. However, a year later, Pacific Standard found that officials squandered their legal powers under the declaration. The opioid crisis gets an honorable mention although Trump said he would declare a national emergency over the crisis, the White House designated it a public-health emergency instead. In November, Trump declared a third national emergency over Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega's regime and its "use of indiscriminate violence and repressive tactics against civilians." ![]() ![]() Criticized as too broad at the time, the order sanctioned people found to be involved in hacking and social media campaigns for the purpose of influencing elections, Politico reports. Many were generals and heads of state accused of ordering executions and mass murder, including ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya Muslim minority in Myanmar. The first was in December of 2017, when Trump sanctioned 13 people for human rights abuses and corruption using an executive order. So far, the president has declared three national emergencies under the National Emergencies Act, according to the Brennan Center. Bush declared 13 and Barack Obama 12, most of which are still in effect, according to CNN. These 58 national emergencies include declarations over dealings with Yemen, Syria, and North Korea, among others sanctions against an array of terrorist groups, including one after 9/11 and various orders concerning nuclear weapons, diamonds imported from Sierra Leone, and the 2009 swine flu epidemic. Most recently, George W. In other words, the country has been in some state of emergency for almost four decades. According to the Brennan Center's running count, 31 of these are still in effect-including the ban on Iranian property, which was extended in November of 2018. Since that first order in 1979, American presidents have declared 58 national emergencies. (The researchers note that one statute, still on the books, exempts World War II veterans from the draft.) However, as The Atlantic reports, Trump could still use the act for a "presidential power grab," giving him control over, say, Internet traffic and computer systems-including voter databases. A president does not necessarily invoke all of these powers when declaring an emergency, nor are they all relevant or even possible. The Brennan Center has catalogued many it considers easily exploitable, including the ability to suspend a ban on human testing of chemical and biological weapons, or a complete White House takeover of radio and wire communications. Carter determined that this situation, like the many to follow it, met the criteria of being "an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security."Īlthough the act is intended to combat threats, it also authorizes far-reaching powers, which critics consider a threat of their own. President Jimmy Carter declared the first national emergency under the NEA in 1979, with an order blocking Iranian government property from entering the U.S. Under the act, an emergency lapses after a year, unless it's renewed-and it often is. The law gives a president the power to declare a national emergency when she or he wishes. In 1976, Congress passed the National Emergencies Act, codifying-without truly restricting-this authority. Constitution, presidents have amassed many powers that spring to life during crisis. President Harry Truman first declared a state of emergency during the Korean War, in an order that remained in effect until Congress attempted to regulate this authority years later, according to the Lawfare Institute. This is not the first time a president has contemplated such authority: According to the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University, a "vast set of laws gives the president greatly enhanced powers during emergencies." These include 136 statutory powers that touch on everything from the military to criminal law-and 96 require only the president's signature.
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