President Trump recently declared a “crime emergency” in D.C. and suggested it could be extended to large cities across the country whose efforts to stop crime do not meet with his personal approval. In doing so, he is making use of America’s long and sordid history of abuse of the Constitution’s requirements for implementing such powers.

The Constitution says, “He [the President] may, on extraordinary occasions, convene both houses.” This is taken to mean situations requiring immediate government action, such as emergencies or crises. (Article II, Section 3) Woodrow Wilson abused this provision soon after his election by calling Congress into special session to hear his plan for tariffs, as though that were an emergency requiring immediate attention, which it clearly was not.

Today, of

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