Source: https://www.brennancenter.org/analysis/emergency-powers
Timestamp: 2019-04-25 06:25:48+00:00

Document:
Unknown to most Americans, a vast set of laws gives the president greatly enhanced powers during emergencies. President Donald Trump has declared a national emergency to bypass Congress and secure funding for a wall along the border with Mexico. The Brennan Center, building on previous research, has identified 123 statutory powers that may become available to the president when de declares a national emergency, including two that might offer some legal cover for his wall-building ambitions (10 U.S.C. 2808 (a) and 33 U.S.C. 2293 on our list below). An additional 13 statutory powers become available when a national emergency is declared by Congress.
Below are two tables (for a printable PDF version of both tables, click here). The first lists several important laws that establish general frameworks for different kinds of emergencies (including national emergencies, major disasters, public health emergencies, etc.). The second sets forth the 136 statutory provisions available during national emergencies; it displays these powers by subject matter, specifies the conditions triggering their use, and lists the occasions on which they have been invoked. This table is sortable/searchable by level of restriction on the president’s powers, U.S. code title, and keyword. Our top-line observations from this research may be found here, while our methodology for compiling the database is available here. Separately, we have developed a running list of national emergencies declared since the National Emergencies Act went into effect. And we did a deeper dive into some of these powers in the January/February 2019 issue of The Atlantic.
*This page was updated on Jan. 23, 2019.
50 U.S.C. §§ 1601-1651 National Emergencies Act (1976) "With respect to acts of Congress authorizing the exercise, during the period of a national emergency, of any special or extraordinary power, the President is authorized to declare such national emergency” The National Emergencies Act imposes procedural requirements on the President’s exercise of emergency powers. It has governed the declaration of multiple emergencies. For a complete list of emergencies declared under this statute, see here.
See here for list of declarations under this statute since 2005.
Proc. 8443, Declaration of a National Emergency With Respect to the 2009 H1N1 Influenza Pandemic, 74 FR 55439, Oct. 23, 2009.
Between 1953 and 2014, averages of 35.5 major disaster declarations were issued annually by Presidents under the Stafford Act and its predecessor Disaster Relief Acts. Emergency declarations under this act have been issued on average 9 times annually between 1974 and 2014. Fire Management Assistance Grants have also been issued under this act at a rate of about 24 per year in the same period.
For more information, see Bruce R. Lindsay and Francis X. McCarthy, Stafford Act Declarations 1953-2014: Trends, Analyses, and Implications for Congress, R42702, Congressional Research Service, 2015.
Pres. Determ. No. 2014-13, Drawdown Under Section 506(a)(1) of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 for France to Support Its Counterterrorism Efforts in Mali, Niger, and Chad, 79 FR 49223, Aug. 11, 2014.
(2) a public health emergency, including significant outbreaks of infectious diseases or bioterrorist attacks otherwise exists, the Secretary may take such action as may be appropriate to respond"
More commonly referred to as Social Security Act (SSA) § 1135. See here for list of recent waivers issued under SSA § 1135.
For an example of a recent invocation of this statute, see Proc. 8443, Declaration of a National Emergency With Respect to the 2009 H1N1 Influenza Pandemic, 74 FR 55439, Oct. 23, 2009.
Certain authorities under this section have since been delegated, though the waiver authority remains with the Secretary. See Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services; Delegation of Authority, 75 FR 11185, Mar. 10, 2010 (delegating certain authorities under this section to the Administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services).
This statute has been invoked over a dozen times since being enacted in 2004, to authorize use of unapproved products to respond to emergencies ranging from anthrax threats to Ebola. Nine Emergency Use Authorizations (EUAs) are currently in effect in the United States. See here for a list of active declarations under this statute, and here for an archived list of past declarations.
For a recent example of a declaration under this statute, see HHS Notice, Determination and Declaration Regarding Emergency Use of in Vitro Diagnostic Tests for Detection of Zika Virus and/or Diagnosis of Zika Virus Infection, 81 FR 10878, Feb. 26, 2016 (revoked June 30, 2017).
This statute has not been used to declare a national energy emergency, but it was used in the late 1970s to declare regional energy emergencies in Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Alabama, Florida, and Oregon.
E.O. 11912, Delegation of Authorities Relating to Energy Policy and Conservation, 41 FR 15825, Apr. 13, 1976 (delegating Presidential authorities under this section to the Administrator of the Federal Energy Administration).
The Tennessee Valley Authority was a critical supplier of electrical power and raw materials for the purposes of building bombs and other supplies for World War II during the 1940s, but not pursuant to this statute.
The Coast Guard used Fort McHenry as a training station during World War II, but not pursuant to this statute. Instead, the War Department leased part of the fort from the National Parks Service. For more information on this history, see David Marin, "For the safety of ports, ships, and facilities,” Coast Guard Mid Atlantic, Sept. 5, 2015, http://midatlantic.coastguard.dodlive.mil/.
After World War II, as part of a surplus property conveyance program, the federal government conveyed without monetary consideration some military air bases to state and local governments for use as airports. This provision was invoked to reclaim at least one of these air bases during the Korean War national emergency. See generally "Gabreski Airport History,” Suffolk County Government, accessed Oct. 19, 2018, http://www.suffolkcountyny.gov/ Departments/ EconomicDevelopmentandPlanning/ FrancisSGabreskiAirport/ AirportHistory.aspx.
This statute was promptly invoked by E.O. 10789, Authorizing Agencies of the Government to Exercise Certain Contracting Authority in Connection with National-Defense Functions and Prescribing Regulations Governing the Exercise of Such Authority, 23 FR 8897, Nov. 14, 1958, and has been continually exercised under this order ever since. For more information, see here.
A recent example of a specific invocation of this statute is Pres. Memo., Authorizing the Exercise of Authority under Public Law 85-804: Memorandum for the Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development, Nov. 13, 2014 (authorizing USAID director to enter into contracts in support of responding to Ebola outbreak in Africa where the contractor, employees, or subcontractors will have significant exposure to Ebola).
E.O. 13223, Ordering the Ready Reserve of the Armed Forces to Active Duty and Delegating Certain Authorities to the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of Transportation, 66 FR 48201, Sept. 14, 2001 (invoked in response to events of 9/11/2001).
E.O. 13253, Amendment to Executive Order 13223, Ordering the Ready Reserve of the Armed Forces to Active Duty and Delegating Certain Authorities to the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of Transportation, 67 FR 2791, Jan. 16, 2002 (invoked to respond further to the events of 9/11/2001, and delegated to the Secretary of Transportation) (later amended to delegate such authority to Secretary of Homeland Security instead of Secretary of Transportation).
E.O. 13223, Ordering the Ready Reserve of the Armed Forces to Active Duty and Delegating Certain Authorities to the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of Transportation, 66 FR 48201, Sept. 14, 2001 (invoked in response to events of 9/11/2001 and delegated to Secretary of Defense).
Four civilians were appointed to Military Commission Review Panel in 2004 under this authority. See here for more information.
E.O. 13223, Ordering the Ready Reserve of the Armed Forces to Active Duty and Delegating Certain Authorities to the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of Transportation, 66 FR 48201, Sept. 14, 2001 (invoked in response to the events of 9/11/2001).
E.O. 13253, Amendment to Executive Order 13223, Ordering the Ready Reserve of the Armed Forces to Active Duty and Delegating Certain Authorities to the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of Transportation, 67 FR 2791, Jan. 16, 2002 (invoked to respond further to events of 9/11/2001 and delegated to the Secretary of Transportation) (later amended to delegate such authority to Secretary of Homeland Security instead of Secretary of Transportation).
The only statute currently subject to this section is 10 USC § 5450, which caps the number of retired Navy flag officers on active duty at ten.
E.O. 13253, Amendment to Executive Order 13223, Ordering the Ready Reserve of the Armed Forces to Active Duty and Delegating Certain Authorities to the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of Transportation, 67 FR 2791, Jan. 16, 2002 (invoked to respond further to the events of 9/11/2001, and delegated to the Secretary of Transportation).
E.O. 13235, National Emergency Construction Authority, 66 FR 58343, Nov. 16, 2001 (invoked to respond further to the events of 9/11/2001).
This provision has been routinely invoked by Presidents seeking to adjust federal pay schedules since the mid-1990s. See here for more information.
President Trump recently announced his intention to implement alternative plans for pay adjustments under the authority of this statute in January 2019. See Text of a Letter from the President to the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President of the Senate, White House, Aug. 30, 2018.
President Trump recently announced his intention to implement alternate plans for pay adjustments under the authority of this statute in January 2019. See Text of a Letter from the President to the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President of the Senate, White House, Aug. 30, 2018.
President Franklin Roosevelt invoked this provision to suspend the Davis-Bacon Act nationwide in 1934 but ended the suspension within a month. This provision may also have been used to suspend Davis-Bacon under the generalized state of emergency proclaimed during World War II. For more information, see William G. Whittaker, The Davis-Bacon Act: Suspension, RL 33100, Congressional Research Service, September 26, 2005, 4.
Proc. 7924, To Suspend Subchapter IV of Chapter 31 of Title 40, United States Code, Within a Limited Geographic Area in Response to the National Emergency Caused by Hurricane Katrina, 70 FR 54225, Sept. 8, 2005 (declaring that the conditions caused by Hurricane Katrina "constitute a ‘national emergency’ within the meaning of section 3147 of title 40, United States Code”). This declaration sparked some debate about the validity of such an invocation without a declaration under the National Emergencies Act. The question was never resolved as the suspension was lifted by Proc. 7959, Revoking Proclamation 7924, 70 FR 67897, Nov. 3, 2005; see Prevailing Wage Requirements and the Emergency Suspension of the Davis-Bacon Act, RL33276, Congressional Research Service, February 16, 2006, 4-7.
A review of citing references on Westlaw reveals that this clause has been relied upon in arbitration decisions over privatization of Department of Defense functions as recently as 2006, despite never being invoked in a formal declaration of national emergency.
E.O. 13814, Amending Executive Order 13223, 82 FR 49273, Oct. 20, 2017 (invoking section 688 "to provide the Secretary of Defense additional authority to manage personnel requirements in a manner consistent with the authorization provided in E.O. 13223 of September 14, 2001,” to address a shortage of pilots in the Air Force by enabling retired pilots to return to active duty).
E.O. 13814, Amending Executive Order 13223, 82 FR 49273, Oct. 20, 2017 (invoking section 690 "to provide the Secretary of Defense additional authority to manage personnel requirements in a manner consistent with the authorization provided in E.O. 13223 of September 14, 2001,” to address a shortage of pilots in the Air Force by enabling retired pilots to return to active duty).
E.O. 11140, Delegating Certain Functions of the President Relating to the Public Health Service, 29 FR 1637, Jan. 30, 1964 (delegating the authority given by this statute to waive restrictions on promotion in the Public Health Service Corps in times of national emergency generally to the Secretary of Health and Human Services).
E.O. 13223, Ordering the Ready Reserve of the Armed Forces to Active Duty and Delegating Certain Authorities to the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of Transportation, 66 FR 48201, Sept. 14, 2001 (invoked in response to the events of 9/11/2001 and delegated to the Secretary of Transportation when the Coast Guard is not serving as part of the Navy) (later amended to delegate such authority to Secretary of Homeland Security instead of Secretary of Transportation).
E.O. 13341, Further Amendment to Executive Order 11023, Providing for the Performance by the Secretary of Commerce of Certain Functions Relating to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 69 FR 29843, May 20, 2004 (amending E.O. 11023, 27 FR 5131, May 28, 1962, and delegating authority to make appointments and promotions under this section to the Secretary of Commerce).
This provision has not been invoked since WWII.
See Colonel Kevin Cieply, "Charting a New Role for Title 10 Reserve Forces: A Total Force Response to Natural Disasters,” Dept. of Army Pamphlet 27-100-196, Military Law Review, Summer 2008.
E.O. 13603, National Defense Resources Preparedness, 77 FR 16651, Mar. 16, 2012 (Sections 501 and 502 of this order delegate authority under this statute to "the head of each agency otherwise delegated functions under the order”).
E.O. 13253, Amendment to Executive Order 13223, Ordering the Ready Reserve of the Armed Forces to Active Duty and Delegating Certain Authorities to the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of Transportation, 67 FR 2791, Jan. 16, 2002 (invoked in response to the events of 9/11/2001 and delegated to the Secretary of Transportation) (later amended to delegate authority to Secretary of Homeland Security instead of Secretary of Transportation).
E.O. 12728, Delegating President’s Authority to Suspend Any Provision of Law Relating to Promotion, Retirement, or Separation of Members of Armed Forces, 55 FR 35029, Aug. 22, 1990 (delegating authority under this section to the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of Homeland Security with respect to the Coast Guard when it is not operating as a service in the Department of the Navy).
"when the Secretary considers it necessary to do so to meet the requirements of war, national emergency, or a contingency operation or other military requirements.” This authority may not be delegated.
A review of citing references on Westlaw confirms that Department of Defense employees are regularly designated "emergency essential” per the terms of this statute, and subject to the exceptional rights and requirements thereof. A comprehensive listing of employees designated as such, or of precipitating emergencies necessitating the use of "emergency essential” employees, does not appear to be readily available to the public.
This statute has never been invoked for the purposes of responding to a domestic emergency as outlined in § 12304 (b), but the general authority of the President to augment the forces as necessary for operational missions has been invoked in executive orders seven times since 1990, for the purposes of augmenting forces in missions on the Arabian Peninsula; responding to disasters in Haiti; conducting operations in and around the former Yugoslavia; assisting operations in Southwest Asia; and responding to the Ebola outbreak in West Africa.
VHA Directive 1305, Treatment of Active Duty and Reserve Component Servicemembers in VA Health Care Facilities, 2017 WL 1058015, Mar. 10, 2017.
This statute has also routinely been invoked with respect to regulating anchorage and movement of vessels around Cuba since 1996, when Cuban military aircraft destroyed U.S. civilian aircraft in international airspace. The initial emergency declaration was Proc. No. 6867, Declaration of a National Emergency and Invocation of Emergency Authority Relating to the Regulation of the Anchorage and Movement of Vessels, 61 F.R. 8843, Mar. 1, 1996. The most recent continuation of this emergency was Proc. No. 9699, Modifying and Continuing the National Emergency With Respect to Cuba and Continuing to Authorize the Regulation of the Anchorage and Movement of Vessels, 83 FR 8161, Feb. 22, 2018.
Functions of Alien Property Custodian under this act were transferred to Attorney General by Reorg. Plan No. 1 of 1947, Sec. 101, 12 F.R. 4534, July 1, 1947.
The database of orders issued under this statute does not appear to be available on Westlaw. As of the end of FY 2018, 5,792 secrecy orders were in effect per information released by the Patent and Trademark Office. Only 85 of those orders were newly declared in 2018. It is unclear from the available information how many of the other 5,707 secrecy orders remained in place due to national emergencies, versus being renewed annually as a result of the affirmative declaration process.
E.O. 13603, National Defense Resources Preparedness, 77 FR 16651, Mar. 16, 2012 (Section 305 delegates authority under this statute to "the head of each agency engaged in procurement for the national defense”).
This power has been repeatedly delegated to different agencies, including most recently to the President’s Critical Infrastructure Protection Board’s Committee for National Security and Emergency Preparedness Communications by E.O. 13231, Critical Infrastructure Protection in the Information Age, 66 FR 53063, Oct. 16, 2001.
E.O. 9054, Establishing a War Shipping Administration In The Executive Office of the President and Defining its Functions and Duties, 7 FR 837, Feb. 7, 1942 (invoked as § 902 of the Merchant Marine Act of 1936, now codified at 46 U.S.C. § 56301, and delegated to and exercised extensively by the War Shipping Administration during World War II).
E.O. 9054, Establishing a War Shipping Administration in the Executive Office of the President and Defining its Functions and Duties, 7 FR 837, Feb. 7, 1942 (transferring the functions assigned in E.O. 8771 to the War Shipping Administration).
E.O. 9054, Establishing a War Shipping Administration in the Executive Office of the President and Defining its Functions and Duties, 7 FR 837, Feb. 7, 1942 (invoked authority under § 712 of the Merchant Marine Act of 1936, now codified at 46 U.S.C. § 57521, and delegated that authority to the War Shipping Administration during World War II).
(D) The use of the militia or the armed forces after a proclamation to disperse under section 334 of this title.
Note: The Atomic Energy Commission was abolished in 1974. Authority under 42 U.S.C. § 2138 was transferred to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Pub. L. 93-438, Title II, 88 Stat. 1244, Oct. 11, 1974, § 202.
Due to the nature of this statute (a contract provision), Westlaw would likely only contain citations to legal challenges to the statute, not to every instance in which it has been invoked.
A review of citing references on Westlaw suggests that the substance of this statute may be regularly incorporated into standard government contracts, but records regarding when it’s been used effectively to modify terms of those contracts are unclear. See, e.g., Reliance Ins. Co. v. United States, 15 Cl. Ct. 62 (June 2, 1988) (No. 379-86C).
Proc. 6907, Declaration of a State of Emergency and Release of Feed Grain From the Disaster Reserve, 61 FR 35083, July 1, 1996 (invoked in response to a long drought in the Southwest).
A review of citing references on Westlaw suggests that this provision has been used to issue grants at least as recently as 2008, when the Department of Agriculture issued a Request for Proposals: The National Emergency or Disaster Grants to Assist Low-Income Migrant and Seasonal Farmworkers, 73 FR 6467-01, Feb. 4, 2008. The language of the Request msodoes not indicate where a complete accounting of grants issued under this statute would be published, however.
A prior, similar, version of this statute, originally enacted Sept. 7, 1916, ch. 451, § 37, formed the statutory basis for Proc. 1354, Emergency in Water Transportation of the United States, Feb. 5, 1917 (declaring a national emergency due to the "insufficiency of maritime tonnage to carry the products of the farms, forests, mines and manufacturing industries of the United States, to their consumers abroad and within the United States,” and prohibiting the sale or transfer of ships registered and licensed in the U.S. to "any person not a citizen” or to any "foreign registry or flag.”).
Chemical Bank New York Trust Co. v. S.S. Westhampton, D.C. Md. 268 F. Supp. 169 (1967); United States v. Vessel FL 4127 SE, S.D. Fla. 1970, 311 F. Supp. 1353 (1970).
Although there have been multiple prosecutions under this statute, we were not able to identify any instances in which prosecution was due specifically to the designation of additional prohibited places under the emergency provisions of the statute.
Used to prosecute several Vietnam War protestors and anti-nuclear-weapons protestors in the 1960s.
Used to prosecute some manufacturers of war materials during and after World War II.
This statute was also cited by the Customs and Border Protection division of the Department of Homeland Security as the legal framework that enabled the distribution of counterfeit goods to Katrina victims in 2006, on the basis of the national emergency as declared in Proc. 7924, To Suspend Subchapter IV of Chapter 31 of Title 40, United States Code, Within a Limited Geographic Area in response to the National Emergency Caused by Hurricane Katrina, 70 FR 54225, Sept. 8, 2005. See Kristina Rae Montanaro, "‘Shelter Chic’: Can the U.S. Make it Work?”, Vanderbilt Law Journal 42 (2009):1663, 1695 (analyzing the legal and policy implications of this invocation).
These powers are exclusively invoked in tandem with the National Emergencies Act and have been invoked in 55 separate emergency declarations since 1978. On average, IEEPA declarations are renewed annually for about 9 years. For a recent example of an invocation of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, see E.O. 13848, Imposing Certain Sanctions in the Event of Foreign Interference in a United States Election, 83 FR 46843, Sept. 12, 2018. For a comprehensive list of initial emergency declarations invoking IEEPA powers, see here.

References: § 1135
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 § 5450
 § 12304
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