CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin said Thursday that it’s “unlikely” that the courts would prevent President Donald Trump from declaring a national emergency to get money for a wall on the Southwest border.
Trump said on Wednesday that he has “the absolute right to do national emergency if I want.”
“New Day” co-host John Berman asked Toobin about the legality of Trump declaring a national emergency.
"I think it probably is” legal, Toobin responded. "I think it is unlikely to be stopped by the courts, let's put it that way."
He continued, “the president's emergency powers are phrased in a very broad way. And second, as a purely legal matter, it is hard for me to imagine the courts finding a plaintiff with standing, that is, the plaintiff with the legal right to sue to stop this at any early point in the process.”
"You know, the president's emergency powers have been invoked more than you think, often on issues that are not terribly high profile, issues involving Congo, for example,” Toobin said.
He added that “there are 31 current emergencies, most of them not controversial at all, but, you know, they indicate the breadth of the president's power here. And, you know, at least in the short-term, I think that if President Trump wanted to do this, the courts would let him."
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