Building the wall as a “national emergency” is a legal and needed route for President Trump to follow, according to Mark Levin, a top talk radio host and longtime constitutional expert.
Blasting “never Trumpers” within the GOP and liberal critics, Levin took to Facebook to encourage Trump to use powers under the National Emergencies Act of 1976 to move forward on wall construction over Democratic opposition.
“In this case, involving building a border barrier of some kind, that is a uniquely federal governmental responsibility. The president can use the law to undertake such a project, and it can be challenged in the courts or overturned by a joint resolution of Congress. He needs to make his case under the statute, which is an easy case — that securing the southern border is a national emergency, given the chaos there, the related consequences, and the refusal by the Democrats to address it in any meaningful way and their holding the rest of the government hostage,” he wrote on Facebook and in Conservative Review.
His postings came after a former Bush administration official blasted his support for tapping the Act during his nightly radio show.
[Also read: Trump to deliver prime-time address on ‘national security crisis’ at the border]
On talk radio tonight I heard a “constitutional conservative” argue Trump should declare a national emergency to do what he wants on the southern border. Remarkable. There’s no place they won’t go. Once again, can you imagine how the right would have reacted if Obama did this?
— Peter Wehner (@Peter_Wehner) January 8, 2019
“These Never Trumpers get dumber by the minute,” said Levin after former Bush aide Peter Wehner wrote on Twitter, “On talk radio tonight I heard a ‘constitutional conservative’ argue Trump should declare a national emergency to do what he wants on the southern border. Remarkable. There’s no place they won’t go. Once again, can you imagine how the right would have reacted if Obama did this?”
Below is the text of Levin’s post.
These Never Trumpers get dumber by the minute.
The National Emergencies Act of 1976 allows the president to trigger emergency powers conferred on him not by me, but by Congress. It has been in place in various forms for more than 150 years. It confers powers on a president that I think go too far, such as confiscating private businesses, etc.
In this case, involving building a border barrier of some kind, that is a uniquely federal governmental responsibility. The president can use the law to undertake such a project, and it can be challenged in the courts or overturned by a joint resolution of Congress. He needs to make his case under the statute, which is an easy case — that securing the southern border is a national emergency, given the chaos there, the related consequences, and the refusal by the Democrats to address it in any meaningful way and their holding the rest of the government hostage.
The president can use the legitimate legal tools available to him to try to solve these problems. Unlike Obama, he is not legislating by creating, say, DACA, which is unconstitutional and violates separation of powers. Congress set up this process. This isn’t a misuse of unconstitutional authority. It’s about statutory interpretation.
I would encourage the Never Trumpers to try to put their country ahead of their egos and try to control their emotional outbursts.
