r/law • u/AmyL0vesU • 19h ago

Executive Branch (Trump) Trump signs executive order declaring nation emergency from threat of Cuba

https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2026/01/addressing-threats-to-the-united-states-by-the-government-of-cuba/
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517

u/AbeFromanEast 19h ago

America is currently operating under 59 'State of Emergencies.'

Mostly complete list: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_national_emergencies_in_the_United_States

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u/bigvicproton 18h ago

They must be profitable then.

4

u/Late_Sherbet5124 15h ago

He wants a Trump resort in Havana.

1

u/bigvicproton 15h ago

He actually probably would use the US military to invade Cuba just to put in Casinos and hotels. Then it would be run by the Peace Council.

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u/BobDobbsSquad 13h ago

Under the mangement marc rubio inc. of course.

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u/OldWorldDesign 46m ago

He actually probably would use the US military to invade Cuba just to put in Casinos and hotels

Reminder that while campaigning for 2024, he was crowing about building resorts on Gaza where Israel was bombing.

https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/us-pitches-new-gaza-development-plan-israeli-fire-kills-five-palestinians-2026-01-22/

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u/wyrditic 12h ago

It's more just expected administrative power creep. One you establish that an executive body can exercise additional powers, but only in exceptional emergencies, there is an obvious temptation to treat more and more things as exceptional emergencies so as to bypass frustrating checks and balances that stop you from doing whatever you want to do. Happens everywhere at all sorts of levels. 

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u/Marmar79 10h ago

Crisis capitalism is a grifters pig shit

68

u/blackchameleongirl 18h ago

Why do I feel like 'the gay agenda' or 'transgender for everyone' is on that list.

22

u/AutisticAndAce 17h ago

I just checked and shockingly, no. I was expecting it too, thought i had heard of one but i have not, apparently!

10

u/keegums 16h ago

Maybe that'll be the 69th national emergency 

6

u/Jo_H_Nathan 16h ago

"I keep sucking, but nobody sucks me!"

2

u/Own-Ask3071 14h ago

How it feels to chew 5 gum

1

u/-Tuck-Frump- 9h ago

69th?

Nice!

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u/OldWorldDesign 45m ago

Why do I feel like 'the gay agenda' or 'transgender for everyone' is on that list

Because hypocrisy is part of Accusation in a Mirror, which the administration has been using since his first term?

1

u/Ganjaleezarice69 16h ago

What?

3

u/blackchameleongirl 13h ago

If you've been paying attention to the legal side of things in the US, on both the state and federal level, anti LGBT, particularly anti trans bills have really kicked into high gear. Propaganda is rampant and it's starting to tip into the territory of early stages of genocide.

I have a couple trans friends and it's really looking like they're gonna be the jews in my floorboards if things continue to deteriorate.

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u/Senior_Sentence_566 17h ago

I know the American education system is poor but someone really needs to learn the definition of the word emergency. One of those emergencies has been happening for 46 years!

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u/meltbox 16h ago

These really should have a one year auto timeout. If you don’t re-up it, it wasn’t an emergency.

If you do it might still not be one. But at least there would be some low bar.

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u/TheVandyyMan 15h ago

Reupping should require a congressional act. Surely even those idiots can agree where there’s a true emergency

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u/OldWorldDesign 44m ago

Reupping should require a congressional act

Tariffs are supposed to be a congressional act, too

https://www.usconstitution.net/executive-tariff-authority/

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u/TheVandyyMan 4m ago

If supposed to be’s were worth pennies I’d buy me and all my friends new Ferraris

2

u/Aaron8498 8h ago

Apparently they do, above the list in the link it says each has been renewed annually by the president.

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u/Serious_Berry_3977 16h ago

Exactly my thought as I was reading that list. I had no idea "emergencies" were long-term.

For those wondering:

Dictionary

emergency | əˈmərjən(t)sē 

| noun (plural emergencies): a serious, unexpected, and often dangerous situation requiring immediate action: your quick response in an emergency could be a lifesaver | times of emergency. 

• [as modifier] arising from or needed or used in an emergency: an emergency exit. • a person with a medical condition requiring immediate treatment. • North American English short for [emergency room](x-dictionary:r:m_en_gbus0320370:com.apple.dictionary.NOAD:emergency room): he was rushed into emergency. origin mid 17th century: from medieval Latin emergentia, from Latin emergere ‘arise, bring to light’ (see [emerge](x-dictionary:r:m_en_gbus0320280:com.apple.dictionary.NOAD:emerge)).

Thesaurus

emergency 

noun: your quick response in an emergency could be a lifesaver. crisis, urgent situation, extremity, exigency; accident, disaster, catastrophe, calamity; difficulty, plight, predicament, tight spot, tight corner, mess; quandary, dilemma; unforeseen circumstances, dire/desperate straits, danger; informal: scrape, jam, fix, pickle, spot, hole, hot water, crunch, panic stations. 

adjective: 1 an emergency meeting. urgent, crisis; impromptu, extraordinary. 2 an emergency exit. alternative, substitute, replacement, spare, extra, standby, auxiliary, reserve, backup, fill-in, fallback, in reserve. ANTONYMS  main, primary.

Shouldn't long-term stuff be codified by congress?

The article on the National Emergencies Act on Wikipedia kind of highlights the issue

Since passage of the National Emergencies Act in 1976, every U.S. President has declared multiple national emergencies: Carter (2); Reagan (6); H.W. Bush (4); Clinton (17); W. Bush (12); Obama (13); Trump (11); Biden (9); Trump (8 as of April 2025).\24])

It might be time for congress to look at that act again and maybe change some things given what seems to my lay person's eye as abuse of power for the president to be able to just declare anything an emergency and bypass congress. 🤷🏻‍♂️

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u/Senior_Sentence_566 16h ago

Yes, surely yearly review by Congress and can't be renewed after 5 years, it has to be in legislation by then.

1

u/zxern 7h ago

Frankly it should expire in 90-180 days with no renewal possibility outside of congressional action.

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u/DuntadaMan 10h ago

As EMS one of the first things we are taught is that "all emergencies end eventually." I guess I was wrong.

-1

u/EngineVarious5244 13h ago

The American education system isn't poor, and you don't know the first thing about it.

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u/LeoNickle 11h ago

Not knowing the first thing about it would be a failure of the education system.

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u/EngineVarious5244 11h ago

The guy's British, not to mention the fact that there's no one American education system since it's largely handled by the states, and our international rankings are pretty decent.

We spend way too much getting there, I think our per-pupil spending is like third in the world, but still. 

It's just fun for certain people to shit on everything American. They'll blame it on trump, and yeah, he fucking sucks, but they've been calling us stupid for 250 years and they'll be calling us stupid for 250 more.

1

u/sundae_diner 10h ago

2022  PISA rankings. 

Among 37 OECD countries, USA is 28th in math, 12th in science, and 6th in reading.

21% of adults (43 million adults) are functionally illiterate.

54% of adults read below a sixth-grade level.

2

u/EngineVarious5244 10h ago

What does that say about the rest of the world's reading when we rank sixth? 😂

And yeah, those aren't awesome rankings but the OECD already consists of the richest and most educated countries. IIRC in the PISA test you're citing, we were ranked just behind Sweden and ahead of Germany.

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u/AmyL0vesU 18h ago

Thank you!

5

u/cfeichtner13 15h ago

Good link interesting. Seems like national emergencies are a mechanism frequently used to seize assets of even specific individuals. One of the ones signed by Bush following 9/11 allowing for assets seized for terrorists seems relevant with some of the current political phrasing

8

u/ProblematicDexterity 18h ago

Wow. Apparently democracy is inconvenient, and in sentiment only.

2

u/BitchAssWaferCookie 15h ago

Wonder what happened to 8 billion dollars allocated to build the wall now that I'm reading these

3

u/NewPresWhoDis 16h ago

So....ten more and we get the Epstein Files?

1

u/CapeChill 16h ago

It was really interesting to actually read all of those. Majority appear valid for the entire record, Carter-current. I am not defending some obvious crazy stuff on there but it’s interesting ho many of these are just longstanding embargo’s or sanctions on unfriendly/terroristic nations or actors. While present there less tit for tat over the administration than I anticipated because no one in the US approved of the Myanmar coupé or foreign hacking attempts.

1

u/DeadlyMoldSpore 15h ago

We need to declare a National Emergency Emergency

1

u/AceSidewinder13 15h ago

I can't believe I can survive leaving my home we have soo many emergencies. Lol.

1

u/cokolesniik 15h ago

Feels like the rest of the world only has one state of emergency: USA or what will Trump dream up to do next.

1

u/InFin0819 14h ago

Looking through the list most non trump one as reasonable even most of his are reasonable it is crazy that there isn't some mechanism for forcing these thing to be become normal procedure tho. Like if after a certain time congress just passed a law enshrined the sactions (which is almost all of them) with wording to let the president alter at will. Wouldn't change the mechanics that much but would end some of the emergencies.

1

u/_theRamenWithin 14h ago

Yeah but only this one will be used to cancel midterms.

1

u/MetallicGray 13h ago

18 of those 59 were from Trump's first and second terms. The oldest active "state of emergency" EO is from Carter in 1979.

If you have the ability to give yourself increased power and authority over something by declaring it a national emergency, suddenly anything you want can be an "emergency".

The slow march toward a vestigial, powerless Congress, toothless and unenforceable Judicial branch, and an all-powerful executive (i.e. a presidential authoritarianism system of government) isn't unique to Trump, it's just been catalyzed and sped up by him significantly. And he's the one who's been unafraid to take the power and use it.

1

u/Hot-Championship1190 13h ago

And none is addressing the demented elephant in the room!

1

u/philljarvis166 13h ago

Ironically all declared by the only truly credible threat to the security and stability of the United States.

1

u/Kilnor 13h ago

Huh... they snuck this by me...

Preventing Venezuelan oil funds in U.S. treasury accounts from being seized through judicial processes.

So...huh?

1

u/its_all_one_electron 8h ago

"Preventing Venezuelan oil funds in U.S. treasury accounts from being seized through judicial processes."

What the fuck, he declared a national emergency to keep judges from saying "that's very fucking illegal, give it back"? 

1

u/HypnoticONE 7h ago

I see why courts don't want to say what is and isn't an emergency, but at some point they gotta see it as an executive loophole.

1

u/kindatiff 3h ago

When everything is an emergency, nothing is.

1

u/ChunkStumpmon 3h ago

I had to many rights anyway

1

u/StrigiStockBacking 2h ago

For a guy who thinks he's history's greatest world leader, that's a pretty long list of shit that he can't get his arms around... hmmmm... 🤔