In his first 100 days back in office, President Donald Trump has invoked emergency powers more times than any modern president — eight times, according to NPR’s Kat Lonsdorf. From declaring a “national energy emergency” despite no fuel shortage, to labeling a longstanding trade deficit as a threat to national security, Trump is using emergency declarations not to address urgent crises — but to ram through his domestic agenda while bypassing Congress. 

Let’s be clear: emergency powers were never meant to serve as policy shortcuts. Elizabeth Goitein of the Brennan Center for Justice rightly notes these powers exist to give presidents temporary flexibility during true emergencies — not to rewrite policy on the fly. Yet Trump has now declared 21 national emergencies across two terms, nearly doubling the rate of his predecessors. 

Scholars like Princeton’s Kim Lane Scheppele have sounded the alarm: this is “pedal to the metal on executive power.” As someone who studies the erosion of democracies around the world, Scheppele warns this is the very path authoritarianism often takes — through unchecked executive authority masquerading as urgency. 

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Equally concerning is the White House’s open admission that it will push these legal boundaries all the way to the Supreme Court. If successful, the result could permanently upend the constitutional balance of powers and embolden future presidents — of any party — to rule by decree. 

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As a U.S. congressman, a member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, and an adjunct professor of Political Science at Xavier University of Louisiana, I take seriously my oath to defend the Constitution. I will continue fighting against this gross abuse of power and the flagrant disregard for the rule of law — the same rule of law that has safeguarded this nation from tyranny for nearly 250 years. 

The framers of our Constitution understood that emergency powers, if left unchecked, could be a fast track to despotism. That’s why they designed a system of checks and balances — not a system of one-man rule. We must not abandon that legacy now.