Emergency Powers Granted to Presidents Are Unconstitutional: Brennan Center for Justice

Then-President George W. Bush delivers a speech from the porch of the Oval Office at the White House in Washington on July 31, 2008. Shawn Thew/Getty Images

A portion of the pres­id­en­tial emer­gency action docu­ments, or PEAD—wide-ranging powers granted to the executive branch during times of emergency—have been disclosed using the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), shedding light on some of the powers that can be exercised by American presidents.

PEADs, first drafted during the Cold War era under Pres­id­ent Dwight Eisen­hower, underwent a review in 2004 during the George W. Bush admin­is­tra­tion. Although there had been previous amendments in the original documents, the 9/11 attacks permanently changed how warfare was waged by the U.S. government, resulting in the Bush-era review.