Abstract
Introduction. In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic announced by the WHO in 2020, American researchers bring up the question of the legitimacy, adequacy, or, on the contrary, redundancy of measures taken by the US leadership to protect the population. The study of the US President’s history of emergency powers can demonstrate how previous American Presidents managed to preserve or, conversely, subvert the established liberal foundations of American society in emergency situations. Methods and Materials. The author used methods of structural analysis and synthesis, historical and legal comparative method, formal legal method, and method of legal modeling. Analysis. The author studied A. Lincoln’s extra-constitutional authority to emancipate slaves, suspend the Habeas Corpus Act, create a volunteer army, and declare a naval blockade. On the basis of legal sources, we carried out the analysis of F. Roosevelt’s decisions on the creation of courts-martial and the internment of people of Japanese descent; reviewed the activities of G. Bush after the September 11 attacks and D. Trump’s emergency measures related to building the border wall in the south of the USA. Results. During the research, we found, that each military, economic, or social crisis increased the political significance and role of the executive branch in emergencies. We can characterize the increase of the emergency powers, delegated to the US Presidents, as steadily growing due to the crises that took place in various periods of American history. It was proved, that the precedents of emergency measures created by A. Lincoln, F. Roosevelt and George W. Bush had a long-term impact on the actions of the next US Presidents, opening up new legal opportunities for the use of emergency powers. At the same time, Congress and the US Supreme Court have taken a controversial stance on the validity of the President’s actions at various historical stages. Most of the time, the status of the legislative and judicial branches of government, as well as the understanding of “emergency situation” itself depended on the specific case and practical political needs.
Highlights
In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic announced by the WHO in 2020, American researchers bring up the question of the legitimacy, adequacy, or, on the contrary, redundancy of measures taken by the US leadership to protect the population
The historical experience of the development of the American Institute of President’s Emergency Powers, which was tested by the Civil War, the Great Depression, two World Wars, the terrorist threat and the pandemic, seems to be unique in terms of the possibility to maintain the foundations of a democratic system in emergency situations, as well as to keep a balance between rights and freedoms of citizens and to maintain total control
By 2020, the President of the United State has the access to emergency powers contained in 136 statutory provisions [25], which have been recently calculated by the Brennan Center for Justice at the Law School of New York University
Summary
The history of the United States is a rare example of the commitment of the country’s Presidents to the idea of liberal democracy and the rule of law, despite the almost unlimited possibilities of using emergency powers. Various historical examples of the state response and the reaction of the head of the executive branch to critical, emergency circumstances within the country demonstrate the variability of ways and means of overcoming them. Scientific research in this area under the current conditions of the economic crisis and the declared COVID-19 pandemic has theoretical and practical significance
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