In a recent op-ed for The Hill, Professor Glenn Altschuler, the Thomas and Dorothy Litwin Professor of American Studies and Dean of Continuing Education and Summer Session, discusses the tendency of presidents to govern by declaring national emergencies, in light of President Trump's threat to declare a national emergency to construct a wall along the U.S. southern border.
"The National Emergencies Act of 1976, it is important to note, did not set criteria for declaring a national emergency," Altschuler writes. "Consequently, according to the Brennan Center for Justice, presidents have declared national emergencies 58 times in the last forty years, thirty-one of which are still in effect, in response to 'crises' that have run the gamut, including export control regulations; prohibitions on economic transactions with 'certain persons' in or the governments of Nicaragua, Libya, Panama, Iraq, Haiti, Burma, the Sudan, Sierra Leone, Zimbabwe, Syria, Belarus, North Korea, Somalia, Yemen, Ukraine, the Russian Federation, and Taliban in Afghanistan; proliferation of weapons of mass destruction; the 2009 H1N1 influenza epidemic; and sanctions in the event of foreign interference in U.S. elections."
Thomas and Dorothy Litwin Professor of American Studies Emeritus
American Studies Program, History, Jewish Studies Program