The President of the United States of America enjoys broad powers. Some of these powers are emergency powers. Congress is not moving fast enough to reform these powers. Elizabeth Goitein, The Brennan Center for Justice:

This article was first published in Just Security. 

[Editors’ note: At the one-year mark of the Biden administration, Just Security invited authors of the Good Governance Papers – originally published in October 2020 – to provide brief updates on their Papers, which explored actionable legislative and administrative proposals to promote non-partisan principles of good government, public integrity, and the rule of law. For 2022, authors were invited to evaluate the Biden administration and/or Congress and, where applicable, to provide additional recommendations. For more information, please read the introductions to the original series and the update series.]

This article discusses issues and recommendations originally outlined in Good Governance Paper No. 18: Reforming Emergency Powers.

The Trump administration illuminated many shortcomings in the laws that confer or constrain presidential power. Among the most flawed—and most dangerous—are the authorities the president may invoke in emergencies. In the October 2020 Good Governance Papers series, I recommended several measures Congress should take to limit these emergency powers’ potential for abuse.

Read the full article here.