What would happen if President Donald Trump declared a national emergency in order to build a southern border wall?
From Daily Caller:
The president is currently exploring the idea of declaring a national emergency so that he can build the wall without the approval of Congress. As the partial government shutdown heads into its third week, Congress is stuck at an impasse as Democrats say they will not give Trump any of the $5.7 billion he has requested for the wall.
Trump told reporters Friday that he is open to using emergency powers to circumvent Congress, stating, “We can call a national emergency and build it very quickly. It’s another way of doing it.”
He reiterated the idea Sunday, adding that he would wait and see what negotiations yielded over the next “few days.”
Trump’s words have sparked debate as to whether or not he has the authority to declare a national emergency on the border.
Democratic California Rep. Adam Schiff called the idea a “nonstarter” Sunday, asserting, “If Harry Truman couldn’t nationalize the steel industry during wartime, this president doesn’t have the power to declare an emergency and build a multibillion-dollar wall on the border.”
The president has an unlikely supporter in Democratic Washington Rep. Adam Smith, who says that the president “can declare an emergency.” Smith did concede Monday on CNN that he thinks any such declaration would be met with significant legal challenges.
Legal experts similarly told NBC that Trump could declare a state of emergency under The National Emergencies Act — which grants the president a set of special executive powers, including but not limited to the ability to “seize property, organize and control the means of production, seize commodities, assign military forces abroad, institute martial law, seize and control all transportation and communication.”
