62 Pages Posted: 13 May 2012 Last revised: 23 Oct 2014

Date Written: March 23, 2013

Abstract

This paper and an attached compendium attempt, for the first time since the 1970s, to reach a reasonably complete assessment of the number of national emergencies now in effect in the United States and the powers these emergencies confer on the Executive Branch. The paper also proposes specific statutory reforms to rein in the unchecked growth of these emergencies, and political reforms to subject the vast executive powers granted by the U.S. emergency law regime to the democratic process.