Latest in Emergency Power
Canada’s Public Order Emergency Commission shared its inquiry into the circumstances of a 10-day emergency powers declaration in February of 2022.
Two seemingly unrelated Supreme Court cases up for oral argument in the next few weeks will have important implications for the use of emergency powers by the executive branch—and for the long-term health of U.S. democracy.
The authority to both define state emergencies and exercise state statutory emergency powers rests almost entirely with America’s governors. When emergencies—real or supposed—and elections intersect, state executives could leverage their emergency powers to influence electoral outcomes.
The Supreme Court should shift its approach to emergency powers (defined broadly to include national security) to take into account the role they can play in undermining democracy.