Cass R. Sunstein, Columnist

Trump’s Emergency Powers Won’t Get Him a Wall

Congress has to approve any such action, just for starters.

January 14, 2019 at 4:00 PM UTC

Cass R. Sunstein is a former Bloomberg Opinion columnist. He is the author of “The Cost-Benefit Revolution” and a co-author of “Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth and Happiness.”

No emergency.
Photographer: Mario Tama/Getty Images South America

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Does President Donald Trump have the legal authority to declare a national emergency, and order the military to build a wall between Mexico and the United States?

We are dealing with a novel question here, which means that any judgment has to have a degree of tentativeness. But the best answer appears to be no.