• Rich Barlow

    Senior Writer

    Photo: Headshot of Rich Barlow, an older white man with dark grey hair and wearing a grey shirt and grey-blue blazer, smiles and poses in front of a dark grey backdrop.

    Rich Barlow is a senior writer at BU Today and Bostonia magazine. Perhaps the only native of Trenton, N.J., who will volunteer his birthplace without police interrogation, he graduated from Dartmouth College, spent 20 years as a small-town newspaper reporter, and is a former Boston Globe religion columnist, book reviewer, and occasional op-ed contributor. Profile

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There are 8 comments on Is Trump’s Declaration of a National Emergency Constitutional?

  1. Executive power abuse has happened well before Trump. Obama said several times he cannot do anything about the Dreamers but he found his “pen and phone” and bypassed congress and created the Daca program. The pendulum swings both ways. There is an imbalance where the executive branch has too much power and it is important that the Left and Right realize this and try and fix it.

  2. In fairness, are you going to publish a legal opinion supporting the President? You never have and I wonder if your faculty is balanced which I’m sure it is not. Bottom line, this is a national emergency and not because of humanitarian reasons. Our southern border is open and we have lost control of who is entering our country. We have a legal immigration system which must be enforced. Thousands illegally crossing our border is a national emergency.

    1. TRUMP’S False-Positive Strategies

      Ladies and gentlemen, there are two controversial issues at law that is neccesary to be considered; the first one, we need to understand what kind of government system the US is applying: ‘Theory democracy or theory technocracy? The second one, is domestic law override by international Conventions signed by the US Government?

      Mr. Trump has said in relation to the Venezuelan socio-political crisis that ‘democracy’ needs to be restored into that country. Therefore, it appears that ‘Democracy theory’ is the American politicians are inclined to. However, if President Trump, decided to ‘declare national emergency’ to pursue his own personal desires, that is not a ‘democratic decision-making’. Even if the US Government applies ‘Technocracy Theory’; then, Mr. Trump must rely on “experts’ opinion”; but what expert’s opinion he must to relay on? Democrat or socialist expert’s opinion? Which one is right or weong? In both cases, if he doesn’t follow the conventional ‘theories’; then, Mr. Trump’s decision is unconstitutional.

      The US Government is a signatory country of the International Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and under the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties (in force since 27th January 1980) in its preamble paragraphs 4, 5, and 6 says as follows:

      “(4) Noting that the principles of free consent and of good faith and the pacta sunt servanda rule are universally recognized,

      (5) Affirming that disputes concerning treaties, like other international disputes, should be settled by peaceful means and in conformity with the principles of justice and international law, and

      (6) Recalling the determination of the peoples of the United Nations to establish conditions under which justice and respect for the obligations arising from treaties can be maintained,”

      In articles 26 and 27, the Convention says:

      “Article 26 – Pacta sunt servanda

      Every treaty in force is binding upon the parties to it and must be performed by them in good faith.

      Article 27 Internal law and observance of treaties

      A party may not invoke the provisions of its internal law as justification for its failure to perform a treaty. This rule is without prejudice to article 46.”

      Therefore, if the US Government has not yet ratified the Convention to be bound, then, the American government has not genuine intentions to apply a reliable ‘democratic system’ and Mr. Trump’s arguments for a democratic government in Venezuela has not fundaments to pursue a ‘military intervention; into that country and the construction of the wall in the Mexican border is not yet justified.

    2. “I didn’t need to do this”- Trump, when asked about the necessity of declaring a national emergency.

      Yeah that sounds real urgent. Besides, if it really was an emergency, why did he wait two years until his party lost Congress? He was calling it an urgent national security crisis back in 2016, why is it suddenly an emergency now, when using the “national emergency” authority is the only way he can possibly get funding against the will of the American people as represented by Congress?

      And whatever happened to “Mexico will pay for it?” What is the Trump camp’s opinion about Mar-A-Lago’s history of employing illegal workers? If the world is so dangerous we have to wall it off, as if that would even be effective at all, why are Trump officials being investigated at this moment for arranging to sell restricted nuclear technology to fundamentalist countries? Does this fit the continuing pattern of people close to Trump being indicted for corruption and collusion?

      Sometimes a man, or a President, can be so misguided that no one with sense or intelligence can find rational justification to support him. And if that’s why there’s no “balance” in journalism, it’s his own fault.

  3. TRUMP’S False-Positive Strategies

    Ladies and gentlemen, there are two controversial issues at law that is necessary to be considered; the first one, we need to understand what kind of government system the US is applying: ‘Theory democracy or theory technocracy? The second one, is domestic law override by international Conventions signed by the US Government?

    Mr. Trump has said in relation to the Venezuelan socio-political crisis that ‘democracy’ needs to be restored into that country. Therefore, it appears that ‘Democracy theory’ is the American politicians are inclined to. However, if President Trump, decided to ‘declare a national emergency’ to pursue his own personal desires, that is not a ‘ democratic decision-making’. Even if the US Government applies ‘Technocracy Theory’; then, Mr. Trump must rely on “experts’ opinion”; but what expert’s opinion he must to rely on? Democrat or socialist expert’s opinion? Which one is right or wrong? In both cases, if he doesn’t follow the conventional ‘theories’; then, Mr. Trump’s decision is unconstitutional.

    The US Government is a signatory country of the International Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and under the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties (in force since 27th January 1980) in its preamble paragraphs 4, 5, and 6 says as follows:

    “(4) Noting that the principles of free consent and of good faith and the pacta sunt servanda rule are universally recognized,

    (5) Affirming that disputes concerning treaties, like other international disputes, should be settled by peaceful means and in conformity with the principles of justice and international law, and

    (6) Recalling the determination of the peoples of the United Nations to establish conditions under which justice and respect for the obligations arising from treaties can be maintained,”

    In articles 26 and 27, the Convention says:

    “Article 26 – Pacta sunt servanda

    Every treaty in force is binding upon the parties to it and must be performed by them in good faith.

    Article 27 Internal law and observance of treaties

    A party may not invoke the provisions of its internal law as justification for its failure to perform a treaty. This rule is without prejudice to article 46.”

    Therefore, if the US Government has not yet ratified the Convention to be bound, then, the American government has not genuine intentions to apply a reliable ‘democratic system’ and Mr. Trump’s arguments for a democratic government in Venezuela has not fundaments to pursue a ‘military intervention; into that country and the construction of the wall in the Mexican border is not yet justified.

  4. I think the best way to go about this, is by suing the Trump administration, on the grounds that the 1976 National Emergencies Act is unconstitutional on Article one grounds. This way new legislation can be drafted that permits Congressional involvement in national emergency decisions that does not compromise Article one.

  5. With a study done by Harvard,and Yale University’s showing over 22 million illegal aliens in our Country right now with thousands more coming Dailey entering our Country illegally doesn’t make this a National Emergency, what does ? Plus the fact that the Democrats refuse to pass any new immigration laws or build a Wall to stop this “invasion” purely for politically reasons makes this a “National Emergency ” !

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