National Emergencies Act

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The National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1601-1651) is a United States federal law passed in 1976 to stop open-ended states of national emergency and formalize Congressional checks and balances on Presidential emergency powers. The act sets a limit of two years on states of national emergency. It also imposes certain "procedural formalities" on the President when invoking such powers, and provides a means for Congress to countermand a Presidential declaration of emergency and associated use of emergency powers.

The perceived need for the law arose from the scope and number of laws granting special powers to the Executive in times of national emergency (or public danger). At least two Constitutional protections are subject to revocation during a state of emergency:

• The right of habeas corpus, under Article 1, Section 9;
• The right to a Grand Jury for members of the National Guard when in actual service, under 5th Amendment of the Bill of Rights.

In addition, many provisions of statutory law -- as many as 500 by one count (ref. 1) -- are contingent on a state of national emergency.

It was due in part to concern that a declaration of "emergency" for one purpose should not invoke every possible executive emergency power that Congress in 1976 passed the National Emergencies Act. Among other provisions, this act requires the President to declare formally a national emergency and to specify the statutory authorities to be used under such a declaration.

There were 32 declared national emergencies between 1976 and 2001. (Ref. 3) Most of these were for the purpose of restricting trade with certain foreign entities under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) (50 U.S.C. 1701-1707). A notable exception was the "Declaration of National Emergency by Reason Of Certain Terrorist Attacks" by President George W. Bush (September 14, 2001), which cited nine specific authorities related to military personnel matters, such as calling up of reserves and exceeding strength limits. Contrary to concerns expressed at the time (e.g., Ref. 1), this declaration has not been cited as supporting any other emergency powers, although different arguments have been made for other emergency powers for which no declaration of emergency was ever made public under the National Emergencies Act: see NSA warrantless surveillance controversy.

[edit] References

1. F.J. Murray, "Wartime Presidential Powers Supersede Liberties," Washington Times, Sept. 18, 2001, pp. A1, A12, as quoted in Ref. 2.

2. H.C. Relyea, "Martial Law and National Emergency", Congressional Research Service Report for Congress RS21024, updated January 7, 2005: http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/RS21024.pdf.

3. H.C. Relyea, "National Emergency Powers", Congressional Research Service Report for Congress, order code 98-505 GOV, updated September 18, 2001: http://fpc.state.gov/documents/organization/6216.pdf.

4. White House, [1]