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Elizabeth Goitein Profile picture
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20 Jan, 6 tweets, 1 min read
One of President Biden’s Day One executive orders terminates the national emergency declaration Trump used to circumvent Congress and divert military construction funds to build the border wall. 1/6
The declaration was a shameful abuse of power on many levels. It cited a fake emergency to sidestep Congress’s constitutional authority for the purpose of implementing a racist policy. 2/6
Terminating the emergency is step one. Step two is for President Biden to work with Congress to ensure that no future president can do what Trump did. Because Trump will not be the last president to succumb to the temptation of emergency powers. 3/6
If we wait until the next abuse happens, it will be too late. A president who is abusing emergency powers isn’t going to sign a reform bill. We need to pass legislation now, under a president who is intent on demonstrating his commitment to the rule of law. 4/6
There are several bills in Congress that would require presidentially declared emergencies to terminate after 30 days unless approved by Congress. This approach strikes the right balance, and it had broad support among Democrats and Republicans. 5/6
@POTUS, thank you for putting an end to this disgraceful chapter. Now let’s close the book on emergency powers abuse for good! 6/6

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More from @LizaGoitein

Elizabeth Goitein Profile picture
4 Sep 20
ODNI just released a FISA Court opinion from Dec. 2019 approving Section 702 collection for another year. The opinion reveals multiple violations by the FBI, NSA, and CIA of the rules that are designed to protect Americans’ constitutional rights. That should be shocking… 1/17
…but here’s the thing: we’ve seen this opinion a dozen times. The government comes before the FISA Court and details all of its violations. The court lightly chides the government for both the violations and for the delay in reporting them… 2/17
…it then grants the government’s request to lift or weaken the rules – sometimes the very ones the government has broken. And it concludes that the program is constitutional despite systemic non-compliance with the rules that supposedly render it constitutional. 3/17
Read 17 tweets
Elizabeth Goitein Profile picture
30 Jul 20
President Trump just became the first president in our country’s history to suggest postponing a presidential election. Elections were held on schedule, and without question, during the War of 1812, the Civil War, the Spanish flu, and World War II. 1/4
Make no mistake: this is the behavior of an autocrat. The law is crystal clear that the election must happen on November 3. Only Congress can change that date. And the Constitution says the president’s term ends on January 20, 2021 – no exceptions. 2/4 static1.squarespace.com/static/5e70e52…
The @BrennanCenter has catalogued all the powers available to the president in a national emergency. Not one allows the president to delay an election. That’s because no emergency could pose a bigger threat than allowing POTUS to mess with democracy. 3/4 brennancenter.org/our-work/resea…
Read 4 tweets
Elizabeth Goitein Profile picture
21 Jul 20
You don’t have to be a legal expert to know that when unidentified federal forces wearing military fatigues snatch people off the streets into unmarked vans, it’s an abuse of power. Still, it’s worth spelling out what rules Trump is getting around and how. 1/14
From the moment he was elected president, Trump has been itching for an excuse to “send in the feds” to “take over” states or cities with Democratic leaders. The threats started even before inauguration. 2/14 washingtonpost.com/news/post-poli…
Of course, in this country, the president can’t just “take over” states and cities. Although Trump seems not to know it, the federal government’s powers under the Constitution are limited. So Trump and his Attorney General have been trying out legal loopholes. 3/14
Read 14 tweets
Elizabeth Goitein Profile picture
11 Jun 20
Trump just declared another national emergency. The “emergency” in question is – wait for it – the efforts of the International Criminal Court to hold U.S. personnel accountable for alleged war crimes committed in Afghanistan, including torture of detainees at black sites. 1/15
The declaration freezes U.S.-based assets of any foreign ICC personnel who try to exercise jurisdiction over U.S. war crimes, & anyone who assists them. Also, Americans face criminal penalties if they have any financial transactions with such people. 2/15 publicpool.kinja.com/subject-execut…
This is a grotesque abuse of emergency powers, on par with the president’s declaration of a national emergency to secure funding that Congress had denied for building a border wall along the southern border. 3/15
Read 15 tweets
Elizabeth Goitein Profile picture
31 May 20
Some required reading – and a few thoughts of my own – on Trump’s threats to send federal troops into U.S. cities in response to the protests. 1/13
On whether Trump has the legal authority to deploy troops (spoiler alert: yes), see this pithy thread by @steve_vladeck… 2/13
…and this excellent post by @marknevitt on @just_security, which also goes into the rules of engagement once troops are deployed: 3/13 justsecurity.org/70482/the-pres…
Read 13 tweets
Elizabeth Goitein Profile picture
28 May 20
It would be a mistake to go straight to the question of whether the policy articulated in the president’s draft executive order, which sets out to limit immunity for social media platforms that restrict access to content, is the right one. 1/6
That debate is important, but Congress has already weighed in and provided broad immunity. It passed a law. Some members want to change that law, but so far, they haven’t been successful in convincing a majority of Congress to go along. 2/6
The president is trying to short-circuit the legislative process and change the law… through executive order. That’s not how it works, folks. And couching it as a request for the FCC to issue “clarifying” regulations doesn’t change what the president’s trying to do here. 3/6
Read 6 tweets

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