Where Do We Draw the Line?

            The topic of discussion for this Constitution Monday concerns the power of the federal government. The Constitution and Bill of Rights were written to protect individual Americans and the state from too much centralized power. The Framers of the Constitution sought to safeguard against a too-strong central government.


            National emergencies seem to provide a major highway into usurping more power. After radical Islamist terrorists attacked the United States on September 11, 2001, Congress passed laws and regulations to “protect” Americans from future attacks. This site said that there were five ways that “federal laws and regulations were impacted.”

Soon after the attacks, as part of the Aviation and Transportation Security Act, Congress authorized the creation of the TSA where airports previously had used private security guards. [This was the beginning of removing shoes and not being able to take liquids through security.]

The USA Patriot Act, passed by Congress a little over a month after 9/11 and largely still in place today, amended numerous existing laws including the federal anti-money laundering statute and the Bank Secrecy Act of 1970, to make them tougher on terrorism.

The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act saw major changes, and major controversy around privacy. [This law] was amended in both 2001 and 2008, and lowered the legal bar for the government to engage in wiretapping and other surveillance practices.

Material support laws expand anti-terror efforts by allowing the U.S. Department of Justice to prosecute not only terrorists, but those who provide support like money, training and weaponry to terrorists.

The creation of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which combats terrorism and other threats domestically and has promulgated regulations on everything from border security to natural disaster management, is the main federal agency to emerge from the attacks. The department was created by the Homeland Security Act of 2002, absorbing and reorganizing 22 existing federal agencies that deal with domestic safety, law enforcement and immigration. (Emphasis added.)

            Even though all five ways have impacted American citizens, I personally have felt the most impact when I go through security at airports. I have “cussed” the terrorists many times as I had to take off my shoes, empty my pockets, or throw away some forgotten item. How will the changes being made to protect America and Americans from the coronavirus impact our lives?


            With the coronavirus rapidly spreading through America, President Donald Trump declared a national emergency on March 13, 2020. In addition, many of the mayors and governors throughout the nation have declared their own emergencies and shut down schools, courthouses, public gatherings. They have strongly urged or even order citizens of the nation and residents of their states and cities to practice social distancing and to stay home whenever possible. Some people wonder where they got their power. 

According to Pete Williams at cnbcnews.com, the “laws conferring this legal authority” are “some of the oldest on the books.” Every state and nearly every country in the world adopted these laws to help stop the “plagues of past centuries that devastated Europe.” They were “reworked again after the 1918 Spanish flu epidemic and the more recent Ebola outbreak.” The powers to do this type of thing seem to be very broad during public health emergencies.

One of the emergency acts that is available to President Trump is the Defense Production Act. “The law gives the federal government broad powers to pressure the private sector into producing materials necessary to aid the national defense.” Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and other political leaders have pressured Trump to use this law to get the necessary medical equipment to care for victims of coronavirus, such as masks and ventilators. 

Trump invoked the Defense Production Act some ten or twelve days ago, meaning that the federal government can impel manufacturers to make medical equipment. He activated the Act three times but pulled it back because private companies were coming forth on their own with ways that they could help. However, General Motors (GM) resisted committing their equipment and personnel to build ventilators, and Trump was forced to activate the law against the company but hopes that full activation will not be needed. Even though I recognize the need for thousands of ventilators to be built quickly, I do not like to hear that the government is forcing any individual or company to do something.

Trump has great powers under the national emergency declaration as well as the Defense Production Act. Hopefully, he will use his powers wisely and deactivate them as soon as possible.