Trump's Threat to Declare a National Emergency to Build the Wall: What Does History Say?

Hunter DeRensis

Domestic Politics, United States

How far-reaching would a move to invoke emergency powers be? What are the historical precursors for Trump’s possible action?

“I have an absolute right to declare a national emergency, the lawyers have so advised me. I’m not prepared to do that yet, but if I have to I will. I have no doubt about it, I will,” said President Trump to a gaggle of reporters on Thursday morning. But Trump’s possible move to build a border wall is arousing controversy not only on the left, but also the right. The Wall Street Journal editorial page warned on Friday that “appellate courts might establish new constraints on executive power that circumscribe a president’s response to future crises.” Members of the House Freedom Caucus are concerned that an emergency declaration might set a sweeping precedent for a future Democratic president to bypass Congress on issues of national importance.

How far-reaching would a move to invoke emergency powers be? What are the historical precursors for Trump’s possible action?

Presidents have used emergency powers multiple times in the past century to bypass explicit congressional law. In March 1933 during the nadir of the Great Depression, President Franklin Roosevelt declared a state of emergency to enact broad, sweeping economic reforms. “I shall ask the Congress for the one remaining instrument to meet the crisis--broad executive power to wage a war against the emergency, as great as the power that would be given me if we were in fact invaded by a foreign foe,” Roosevelt said during his inaugural address. Roosevelt declared a banking holiday, thereby ending the rush on banks. He went on to sign Executive Order 6102, which made it illegal for U.S. citizens to hold gold bullion and requiring everyone to forfeit such assets to the Federal Reserve. This executive order remained in effect until Congressional action was taken in 1974.

In 1950, President Harry Truman involved the United States in the Korean War, declaring it a national emergency. Korea was the first of the modern wars to be fought without a congressional declaration, with the president referring to it as a “police action.” By 1976, both national emergencies were still in existence, along with two others invoked under Richard Nixon in 1970 and 1971.