Justin Amash Profile picture
Feb 15, 2019 10 tweets 2 min read Read on X
A thread on national emergencies and our Constitution:

Congress makes laws.
The president executes laws.
The Supreme Court decides cases.

This is our constitutional system.

Congress cannot delegate legislative powers to the president by statute.
Going back to the Framers of the Constitution, Americans have recognized the president’s inherent power as chief executive to act swiftly in an emergency, especially a sudden attack on the United States. But such power exists only so long as Congress has no opportunity to act.
Over the years, Congress has passed laws to create an orderly process for receding the president’s inherent emergency power as an emergency subsides—the War Powers Resolution and the National Emergencies Act are two examples.
Laws like the War Powers Resolution and the National Emergencies Act are not—and, under our Constitution, cannot be—grants of legislative powers to the president. They were adopted to transition authority back to Congress when unilateral executive action is no longer appropriate.
Congress can make no law permitting the president to assume permanent legislative powers, even in a single area, simply by his declaring an emergency. The president may act quasi-legislatively only in an actual emergency—when Congress has no time to act—and then only temporarily.
Congress cannot turn the executive branch into the legislative branch. Such an effort fails for lack of conformity to our Constitution. The validity of an emergency declaration is limited by the definition of “emergency” itself and cannot be expanded by statutory openness.
Can Congress make a law permitting the president to conduct the entire appropriations process by his declaring an emergency? Of course not. That would impermissibly grant him legislative powers. The same principle applies when addressing a portion of the appropriations process.
Some have replied that Congress still retains legislative powers should the president abuse an emergency declaration. They note that Congress can pass legislation to override the president’s actions. Though true, this arrangement turns the Constitution on its head.
It would mean that a simple majority of each chamber could delegate legislative powers to the president, but only a two-thirds majority or greater could reject their application to a particular case or repeal the delegation altogether.
Congress should (and I will) work to repeal laws that ostensibly grant legislative powers to the president. But even if Congress does no such thing, such laws are void under our Constitution, and any emergency declaration by the president for a non-emergency is likewise void.

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More from @justinamash

Jan 3, 2023
I’m not a current member of Congress, but I do know what’s at stake. I’d gladly serve as speaker of the House for one term to show people the kind of legislative body we can have if someone at the top actually cares about involving every representative in the work of legislating.
Though he’s had trouble securing universal Republican support, the leading contender for speaker of the House remains Kevin McCarthy, which is sad. Even the people pledging to vote for him know that he’s totally unqualified and unfit to be speaker.
While McCarthy’s awful voting record tells you a lot about his philosophy, critical to the role of speaker is a particular aspect of a person’s philosophy that isn’t always apparent from votes: the person’s commitment to a deliberative legislative process.
Read 25 tweets
Jun 10, 2022
Several states demanded amendments to the Constitution to protect individual rights, so the Bill of Rights was proposed as a compromise to keep the Union intact. Ratifying the Second Amendment strengthened the arguments made by James Madison in Federalist No. 46:
“The only refuge left for those who prophesy the downfall of the State governments is the visionary supposition that the federal government may previously accumulate a military force for the projects of ambition.…
“…The reasonings contained in these papers must have been employed to little purpose indeed, if it could be necessary now to disprove the reality of this danger.…
Read 19 tweets
Apr 27, 2022
Here’s why I don’t get the angst over @elonmusk and @Twitter: Almost everyone recognizes that Twitter is increasingly dysfunctional. Much of the dysfunction stems from the company’s choice to prioritize engagement over open discourse. This also drives factionalism and extremism.
Musk can do what a public company can’t: risk profits to restore the original spirit of Twitter. The current algorithm invites audience capture, which causes most of the strain here. The problem is systemic. You can’t ban enough accounts to fix it. The system creates antagonism.
In many ways, it reminds me of the dysfunction of recent Congresses. Congressional leaders have adopted a system that prohibits broad legislative participation, prioritizing election wins over representation. This design produces performance artists instead of legislators.
Read 6 tweets
Sep 1, 2021
You can’t simply decouple the decision to withdraw from the expected outcome of a withdrawal. The primary argument for staying in Afghanistan has always been that any departure would be dangerous for Americans and Afghans alike, which is why this f***ing war has lasted 20 years.
Every exit was going to look ugly. Waiting for ideal conditions—ease of transit and probable safety for all, including Afghans—means waiting forever, never leaving. A president committed to leaving must be willing to move forward despite the likely calamitous short-run outcomes.
Biden deserves criticism. He made plenty of errors and was way too confident. But it’s not at all clear the exit would have been better with a different approach or timing. And I say that as someone who thinks he waited far too long to evacuate Americans and our Afghan partners.
Read 4 tweets
Jun 16, 2021
As Libertarians, we champion due process. There’s only one legitimate executive committee of @LPNH, and that’s the one elected in March.
With that said, we need more professionalism and accountability from state affiliates. Official social media accounts are for advancing the party’s mission of organizing libertarians, not for personal experiments in edgelording.
But horrible messaging can’t amount to a “constructive resignation” of officers. If the party has serious issues with an affiliate, then changes need to be made through proper channels, not by unilateral decree.
Read 4 tweets
Feb 4, 2021
There’s a general misunderstanding of how House committee assignments work. The entire House votes to put each and every member on the particular committees. Though this typically happens via a voice vote (not roll call), it’s done through a normal resolution passed on the floor.
In other words, a committee assignment is not literally decided just by your own party. The whole House must approve it.
To put this in context, Rep. Greene was assigned to her committees via this resolution, which was approved by all Republicans and Democrats. congress.gov/bill/117th-con…
Read 5 tweets

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