Why Trump’s “National Emergency” Threatens Democracy

[Originally published at Democracy & Society on February 17, 2019. Read the full article here.]

On Friday, President Trump declared a national emergency to address the “national security and humanitarian crisis at the border.” Presidents have declared national emergencies over 50 times since the National Emergencies Act was signed into law in 1976, and Trump has already implemented three, but a national emergency has never been used to override the Congressional power of the purse.

As James Madison wrote in Federalist 58, the power of the purse was to be vested in Congress, specifically the House of Representatives, because they were the most direct representatives of the people and, in the British Commonwealth, such a power was used to “reduc[e], as far as it seems to have wished, all the overgrown prerogatives of the other branches of the government.” Madison goes on to say the power of the purse is “the most complete and effectual weapon with which any constitution can arm the immediate representatives of the people, for obtaining a redress of every grievance, and for carrying into effect every just and salutary measure.” Congressional power over the purse is meant to ensure that no tyrant can overrule the people’s will as represented by Congress. Trump’s use of a national emergency to redirect funds to the construction of a border wall because Congress was not willing to appropriate funds for it is, therefore, a direct challenge to one of the most fundamental American democratic institutions, the separation of powers.