ABA and Brennan Center document National Emergencies Act abuse

Trump invoked emergency powers 8 times in his first 100 days of his second term, more than any modern president in that period, according to NPR reporting from June 2025.

The Brennan Center for Justice identified 150 distinct legal powers a president can unlock by declaring a national emergency under statutes including the National Emergencies Act of 1976.

Elizabeth Goitein of the Brennan Center noted that the National Emergencies Act contains no definition of 'national emergency' and no substantive criteria that must be met before a president invokes it.

Trump most frequently cited the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) to impose tariffs on imports from Canada, Mexico, and China, declaring a trade deficit emergency despite the deficit being a decades-long condition.

In INS v. Chadha (1983), the Supreme Court struck down the legislative veto — the mechanism Congress originally used to terminate emergency declarations without a presidential signature — making it harder for Congress to check emergency power abuse.

Kim Lane Scheppele, a Princeton University emergency powers scholar, described Trump's strategy as 'pedal to the metal on executive power,' while Goitein said 'What's remarkable is how little abuse there was before, but we're in a different era now.'