Menu
Close
We Demand National Emergencies Reform
July 17, 2023–Due Process Institute and 30 cross-ideological organizations urged House Committee members and Senate Committee members to advance the bipartisan and bicameral ARTICLE ONE Act (H.R. 3988 / S. 1912), which would reform the National Emergencies Act of 1976 (NEA). Such reform is critical to preventing future abuses of emergency authorities and could be the most substantial rebalancing of power between the executive branch and Congress since the 1970s.
The ARTICLE ONE Act would enact the following reforms: (1) every presidentially declared national emergency will automatically expire after 30 days unless Congress affirmatively votes to extend it, using expedited procedures that will ensure timely action and prevent obstructionism, (2) a national emergency declared by the president and approved by Congress must be redeclared and reapproved by Congress one year after the original declaration, (3) each proclamation by the president declaring or renewing a national emergency must provide a report to Congress that includes a description of the circumstances necessitating the declaration, estimated duration of the emergency, and a summary of actions the president intends to take, (4) the president also must provide a report every six months on the status of the emergency and actions the president has taken to address it, and (5) existing national emergencies will be subject to the same renewal requirements outlined above.
This is a simple, commonsense reform that will shore up Congress’s role as a check against presidential overreach while retaining the president’s flexibility in the immediate aftermath of an emergency. This broadly supported measure is critical to the health of democracy, and urge Congress to hold a markup and advance the bill as soon as possible.
We Urge Enactment of National Emergencies Act Reform
December 2, 2022–Due Process Institute and diverse group of organizations urged Congress to safeguard and strengthen our democratic institutions by enacting National Emergencies Act (NEA) reform during this Congress, either as a stand-alone or as part of broader legislation. Absent reform, presidential abuse of the NEA is a matter of “when” rather than “if.” The law gives the president nearly unfettered discretion to declare a national emergency. That declaration unlocks more than 120 statutory authorities, including emergency powers that a president could rely on to shut down communications facilities, seize private property, and control domestic transportation.
The NEA reform provisions shared by PODA and the HSGAC-passed version of the ARTICLE ONE Act would establish a necessary, meaningful check on the president’s use of emergency powers, while maintaining flexibility for the president when needed most — in the immediate aftermath of a crisis. Under these provisions, presidential emergency declarations would expire after approximately one month (20 legislative days under PODA and 30 calendar days under the ARTICLE ONE Act) unless approved by Congress, using expedited procedures that would ensure timely action. If approved, emergency declarations could last up to a year, with subsequent year-long renewals by the president also requiring expedited congressional approval. Existing reporting requirements would be significantly enhanced in order to keep Congress better informed about how the president uses emergency powers. There is extraordinarily broad bipartisan support for this set of reforms.
Congress has the opportunity to advance the most significant recalibration of the balance of power between the president and Congress in four decades, and to do so in a bipartisan manner.
We Support NDAA Amendments to Reform National Guard Authorities
November 3, 2022–Due Process Institute and a coalition of organizations with diverse political perspectives urged Senators to support three provisions in the House-passed version of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2023 (H.R. 7900). Together, these provisions would address dangerous gaps in the laws that govern domestic deployment of the military. They would (1) reform the outdated command structure of the District of Columbia National Guard; (2) ensure that interstate deployments of the National Guard under Title 32 of the United States Code are carried out in accordance with the Constitution; and (3) codify an exclusionary rule that would establish a practical mechanism for enforcing the Posse Comitatus Act. In addition, we encourage the Senate to pass an amendment to Section 329 of Title 32 that would prohibit privately funded deployments of the National Guard.
Furthermore, none of the above reforms would prevent presidents from lawfully exercising the powers Congress has granted them to deploy the military to provide disaster relief, suppress insurrections, or enforce civil rights laws. All that these provisions would do is strengthen the Posse Comitatus Act and prevent the National Guard from being abused, misused, or dragged into partisan politics.
We Support Ending Transfers of Military-Grade Weapons and Equipment to Law Enforcement Agencies
August 31, 2021–Due Process Institute joined a letter with organizations from across the political spectrum to urge support for the amendment offered by Rep. Veronica Escobar (TX-16) and Rep. Ro Khanna (CA-17) to the Fiscal Year 2022 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) to rein in the Pentagon’s military surplus equipment transfer program, known as the 1033 Program. This amendment would end the indiscriminate transfers of military-grade weapons from the Pentagon to federal, state, and local Law Enforcement Agencies (LEAs)
The 1033 Program has resulted in the transfer of more than $7.4 billion in equipment to more than 8,000 federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement agencies across the country. However, research studies have indicated that not only is the 1033 Program ineffective, as it fails to reduce crime or improve police safety, but it is also unsafe, and associated with more civilian deaths while this military equipment is disproportionately deployed in communities of color.
This commonsense amendment has bipartisan support in Congress and would make communities safer by getting weapons of war and military equipment off of the streets and out of communities.