Should Trump Declare a National Emergency?
Neither Trump nor Democrats are ready to compromise on the issue of the border wall and the government shutdown is no closer to being resolved. Will Trump declare a national emergency at the border and use military funds to build the wall? At first glance, it’s a shocking idea, but it’s becoming more likely. More at The Hill.
The left’s hyperbolic warnings about an imperial Trump Presidency haven’t borne out, and his Administration’s uses of executive power have for the most part been restrained and legally careful. A political spending fight over the wall doesn’t warrant a national-emergency raid on military funds.
There is every reason to believe that President Trump is about to declare a national emergency in the hope of building his fantasy wall by executive fiat with funding diverted from the military budget. For the good of the country, I not only expect him to do so — I welcome his decision… Both [Republicans and Democrats] have everything to gain and nothing to lose rhetorically by refusing to compromise.
Which is why I welcome the wall by fiat.
The executive branch has been garnering its power for many, many years and has been quite aggressive on a number of different fronts… I have the sense President Trump doesn’t mind accelerating that trend, and that, I think, is troubling and is what people are reacting to in this moment. It is on Congress to remember its constitutional role. If Congress doesn’t do that, I do fear over the long term it will lose those prerogatives. I don’t think that Congress can depend on, for example, the courts to resuscitate its prerogative.