Thread by @kazweida

This #SundayMorning Trump has reiterated his threats to declare a national emergency and bypass Congress to build his border wall.

Can Trump abuse his executive powers in this way and what, if anything, can be done to stop him?

#SundayThoughts #SundayMotivation
(THREAD)

(2) First off, there are not a lot of rules about declaring national emergencies. And sadly, even in America, this executive power is rarely checked by Congress.

It's a tactic that has been used by both authoritarians and democracies around the world.
washingtonpost.com/world/2019/01/…

(3) While Trump can declare a national emergency at his discretion, he can't invoke one indefinitely without Congressional approval. And there are some limits to how this authority can be used to deploy troops & use funding.

nytimes.com/2019/01/05/opi…

(4) Trump could scoop up some of the unappropriated money in the DoD budget to fund his wall, but it's not clear in what capacity troops could be used to do the actual construction.

And certainly, Trump would face significant legal challenges.

nbcnews.com/politics/donal…

(5) Presidential declarations of national emergencies have been used to perpetrate terrible abuses of power, including Japanese internment and CIA torture at black sites in the Bush era.

But SCOTUS has also struck down such attempts before.

theatlantic.com/magazine/archi…

(6) SCOTUS ruled against Truman's attempt to nationalize the steel industry during the Korean War. Federal courts have also ruled against this administration's most inhumane immigration policies like the travel ban even when Congress failed to block them.
abcnews.go.com/Politics/house…

(7) It's also a risky thing for this President to do. Funding an unpopular and expensive immigration policy project by abusing executive power provides more ammunition for impeachment.

Abuse of power was one of Nixon's articles of impeachment.

qz.com/1479020/could-…

(8) And now we get to the crux of the problem. Because while Trump can declare a national emergency to fund and construct his border wall, should he be able to? Absolutely not.

No president, Democrat or Republican, should have the authority to abuse power in such a way.

(9) We may not be able to block Trump from constructing his ridiculous wall. But in the long term, taking action to limit executive power is long overdue.

Consolidated executive power has been threatening our democracy for decades. It's time to do something about it.

(10) Thanks to @BogeyGuyC for the #SundayMorning thread suggestion. Welcome to 2019. It's gonna be a bumpy ride.

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