*WATCH CBS News: Presidential Emergency Action Documents, PEADs Can Be Used To Suspend Constitution

[appalachiablue]

Last edited Tue Aug 18, 2020, 06:37 AM - Edit history (2)

Jane Pauley, CBS Sunday Morning, Aug. 16, 2020. PEADs, Presidential Emergency Action Documents can be used to effectively suspend the constitution during an emergency. Trump has declared 7 national emergencies, including the COVID-19 outbreak. Congress Members are not aware of the secret PEADs & have no authority over how they are used. Gary Hart said in 50 yrs. in govt. he's never heard of PEADs. Attny. John Yoo admitted they exist, defended their use, & has participated in updating the documents. *The Trump admin. is apparently now revising the PEADs. Gary Hart called the documents a blueprint for dictatorship. More, https://www.democraticunderground.com/1016266130
https://www.democraticunderground.com/100213915116

*CBS NEWS: "Rewriting The Limits of Presidential Powers," Sunday Morning, Aug, 16, 2020.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/rewriting-the-limits-of-presidential-powers/

'Presidential Emergency Action Documents,' Brennan Center for Justice, May 6, 2020.
https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/presidential-emergency-action-documents

[SheltieLover]

1. K&R!

[infullview]

2. Absolutely frightening.

[doc03]

3. I think if he did it would backfire big time even the Republicans would

speak out for once.

[yuiyoshida]

9. Are you sure? I wouldn't want to have my

life depend on Republicans... Many of whom are also enriching themselves on this government... cleaning out the cupboards..

[doc03]

11. Well at least Susan Collins may get concerned. nt

[yuiyoshida]

13. After we win, these Republicans have to pay ...for all of the crimes

committed by this administration.

[aeromanKC]

4. Constitutional Magical Authorities

Well, Trump has talked about having "magical authorities" within the Constitution.

(Magical Authorities is referenced at @1:20 mark)

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1295428130170195968

[appalachiablue]

15. Exactly what he said, 'magical authorities'...

[appalachiablue]

5. *CBS News Article On The Report:

- "Rewriting the Limits of Presidential Powers,"- CBS News Sunday Morning, Aug, 16, 2020.

The power of the president is enormous – and this president is not bashful in describing powers that go well beyond simple declarations. In April, when discussing guidelines to be issued to governors about reopening states during the coronavirus pandemic, President Donald Trump said, "When somebody is the President of the United States, the authority is total, and that's the way it's got to be – it's total."

There are, it's true, some restraints on most presidential authority, but those might not apply to all the president's powers. As Mr. Trump stated in March, "I have the right to do a lot of things that people don't even know about." We can't know for sure, but what the president appears to have been referring to are his presidential emergency action documents, often referred to as PEADs. "Even though I've had security clearances for the better part of 50 years and been in and out of national security matters during that half-century, I had never heard of these 'secret powers,'" said former Senator Gary Hart.

"Sunday Morning" special contributor Ted Koppel asked, "Do you know what they are, now that you've heard of them?" "Only vaguely, due to research done at the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University Law School," Hart said. "What these secret powers are, apparently, based on the research, is suspension of the Constitution, basically. And that's what's worrying, particularly on the eve of a national election." The Brennan Center research that Senator Hart referred to has been spearheaded by Elizabeth Goitein, the co-director of its national security program, and a contributing writer at The Atlantic.

"These are essentially presidential orders that are drafted in anticipation of a range of hypothetical, worst-case scenarios," Goitein said. ['The alarming scope of the president's emergency powers' 'The Atlantic'] Koppel asked, "Several times during his administration, President Trump has made allusions to secret powers that he has that we don't know about. Is he making that up?" "Well, not exactly," Goitein replied. "And what's alarming about that is that no one really knows what the limits of those claimed authorities might be, because they are often developed and kept in secret." Goitein says what little we do know about PEADs comes from references to them in other documents, some of which are now declassified... Read More, https://www.cbsnews.com/news/rewriting-the-limits-of-presidential-powers/

Also: 'Presidential Emergency Action Documents,' Brennan Center for Justice, May 6, 2020.
https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/presidential-emergency-action-documents

[Ohioboy]

6. The Trump administration shows what can happen when you give a con man the presidency

It also shows what can happen when a political party backs that con man and doesn't impeach him. Hopefully we will, as a nation, learn from having this idiot as our so- called leader. That is if it isn't too late to save democracy.

[Illumination]

7. DU is really giving me an education!...

[appalachiablue]

18. It certainly does! Like a University of Democracy

[Fiendish Thingy]

8. Suspending the Constitution isn't something one can do in secret

People are bound to find out, you know, when it comes time to certify the Electoral Votes.

PEADs remain untested in front of the Supreme Court, other than Lincoln’s extra-legal suspension of Habeas Corpus during the Civil War, is there any comparable precedent?

[Thomas Hurt]

10. How does he sell a CV19 emergency when he has claimed it is a hoax...

an overblown health issue, and refuses to wear masks...

[appalachiablue]

16. +10

[Fiendish Thingy]

12. From the Brennan link:

Although PEADs themselves remain a well-kept secret, over the years a number of unclassified or de-classified documents have become available that discuss PEADs. Through these documents, we know that there were 56 PEADs in effect as of 2018, up from 48 a couple of decades earlier. PEADs undergo periodic revision; although we do not know what PEADs contain today, we know that PEADs in past years—

authorized detention of “alien enemies” and other “dangerous persons” within the United States;
suspended the writ of habeas corpus by presidential order;
provided for various forms of martial law;
issued a general warrant permitting search and seizure of persons and property;
established military areas such as those created during World War II;
suspended production of the Federal Register;
declared a State of War; and
authorized censorship of news reports.
The Brennan Center’s Liberty and National Security Program researches PEADs and advocates for greater transparency and oversight of them. As a resource to others interested in this topic, below we have compiled our own analyses and op-eds; a running list of congressional actions; and government documents discussing PEADs, including documents that others have obtained through Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests and placed on the internet and documents that we have obtained through our own FOIA or Mandatory Declassification Review requests.

PEADs have been around since the Eisenhower administration; so have I, and I don’t recall any incidences of martial law other than curfews during civil unrest; I don’t recall any suspensions of habeas corpus either.

My point is, while the content of the PEADs is classified, the execution of any of these directives would not be, as they would affect the general public. There is no mechanism in the Constitution that provides for the its suspension. PEADs were created to provide continuity of government in case of nuclear attack, when Congress and SCOTUS would not be functioning. PEADs are apparently separate from anything related to the Emergency Powers Act, which Trump used to divert funds for his wall. Any execution of a PEAD in a non-nuclear holocaust scenario could, and would be challenged in front of SCOTUS.

[appalachiablue]

17. And did you listen to what John Yoo said in the interview above?

Quite broad, loose even..

[Fiendish Thingy]

19. Again, all uNtested in court, and Trump's term expires Jan 20

So we either get President Biden, or President Pelosi (or Leahy if it goes that far)

[SergeStorms]

14. No one ever thought...

we'd have a president so narcissistic, so power mad, that this would become an issue. Presidents of the United States are supposed to have morals . Presidents of the United States are supposed to have character. Presidents of the United States are supposed to have the best interests of the nation in mind. They're not supposed to use the reins of power to enrich themselves, to elevate their own egos, to actually harm other American citizens on purpose because of his ego!

No one ever bargained for Donald Trump becoming president.

[struggle4progress]

20. Saying "I have the authority" doesn't confer the authority

[appalachiablue]

21. Keep on top of the development.