-
Alien Enemies Act: A Fraught and Rarely Used Law
In 1798, during a feared invasion by France, the U.S. government enacted a set of four bills targeting immigrants and noncitizens known as the Alien and Sedition Acts. Three of the four bills either expired or were repealed during President John Adams’ tenure. However, one of the original bills endured â the Alien Enemies Act. This law remains in effect today and allows the sitting president wartime authority to apprehend, intern, and deport immigrants who originate from an âenemy nation.â The Alien Enemies Act has been invoked three times in our nation’s history, each time during a major conflict: the War of 1812, World War I, and World War II.…
-
MWEG Response to Jan. 6 Pardons
President Donald Trumpâs indiscriminate pardons of those who participated in the insurrection on Jan. 6, 2021, fly in the face of the rule of law, legitimizing and excusing political violence when wielded against oneâs opponents. Those who participated in the Jan. 6 insurrection imposed chaos and terror on a time-honored process of certifying election results, disrupting the peaceful transfer of political power. While the use of pardons by presidents from both parties has been abused over past decades, with a particular escalation more recently by President Biden, President Trumpâs permissive and expansive pardon of more than 1,500 individuals, over 1,000 of whom pleaded guilty, is uniquely disturbing in its disregard…
-
Presidential Power to Deploy Military Inside the U.S.
Did you know that for domestic affairs, the U.S. president holds power to deploy the military and National Guard without Congressional approval? Throughout our nationâs history, various presidential administrations have deployed military troops to manage domestic uprisings or large scale natural disasters. In 1807, Congress adopted the Insurrection Act in order to define the governmentâs â primarily the presidentâs â roles and responsibilities in these instances. What is the Insurrection Act? What is known as the Insurrection Act is actually a series of laws that empower the president to deploy military forces for domestic affairs. The laws give the president exclusive power to deploy troops in the event that a…
-
Sustaining Progress: The Critical Role of PEPFARÂ
The U.S. Presidentâs Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) represents the largest financial commitment ever made by a single country to combat a single disease. Established in 2003 by President George W. Bush, PEPFAR has had overwhelming bipartisan support through 10 Congresses and four presidential administrations. Over the past 20 years, the U.S. government has invested more than $100 billion in the global HIV/AIDS response, saving more than 25 million lives and providing treatment to millions more. Since 2003, PEPFAR has been a cornerstone of global health efforts. However, its future is currently uncertain. In March 2024, PEPFAR received a one-year reauthorization, a departure from the program’s historical five-year extensions,…
-
Official Statement on Executive Orders
On his first day in office, as promised, President Trump signed 26 executive orders â a significant departure from past administrations. The sheer number and scope of orders signed on a single day is overwhelming. Governing by mandate is designed to disrupt and show force. It does not honor the dispersion of power and checks and balances so carefully built into our Constitution, and it violates historical norms that have ensured stability and consistency of expectation for the governed. Although executive orders should be reserved for administrative directives or actual emergencies, in recent decades they have been regularly used by presidents of both parties to bypass deliberative legislative process and…
-
What Type of Government Is the United States of America?
The U.S. is recognized all over the world for its distinctive form of representative government. When we understand our governmentâs structure under the Constitution, we are empowered to make more informed choices as we strive to elect worthy representatives, advocate for our policy preferences, and protect what we value. President Dallin Oaks has taught that one of the inspired principles of our Constitution is popular sovereignty. In other words, the people hold the ultimate power, not the government. The Constitution begins, âWe the people of the United States . . . do ordain and establish this Constitutionâ in service of the lofty ideals articulated in the preamble. Below, we offer…
