#presidential-emergency-powers

#presidential-emergency-powers

On November 5, the Supreme Court will hear oral argument in a case testing the limits of presidential emergency powers. At issue is whether a president may use the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) to impose sweeping tariffs on imports from countries around the world. The stakes of this case reach far beyond trade policy. The Court's decision could shape whether the use of emergency powers to bypass Congress becomes a tool of routine governance, with profound implications for the constitutional separation of powers and limits on presidential authority.

There are few laws President Trump name-checks more frequently than the Insurrection Act. A 200-year-old constellation of statutes, the act grants emergency powers to thrust active-duty soldiers into civilian police duty, something otherwise barred by federal law. Trump and his team have threatened to invoke it almost daily for weeks - most recently on Monday, after a reporter pressed the president about his escalating efforts to dispatch federalized troops to Democrat-led cities.