Checking the President’s Sanctions Powers

A single emergency power accounts for 37 of the 40 national emergencies active today: the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), which underlies most U.S. economic sanctions regimes. Although it was originally enacted to constrain the president during peacetime, Congress today has almost no ability to check presidential uses (or abuses) of this extremely broad power. Moreover, sanctions programs and targets have ballooned since IEEPA’s enactment, harming both Americans’ constitutional rights and the well-being of civilians abroad. The Biden administration has pledged to review the sanctions regimes currently in place, and voices inside and outside of government are calling for reform. A recent report released by the Brennan Center for Justice, Checking the President’s Sanctions Powers, delves into the problems with IEEPA and its implementation and offers recommendations to address them.

Join a timely discussion on the need for sanctions reform moderated by the Director of the ACLU’s National Security Project, Hina Shamsi, in conversation with Asli Bâli, Professor of Law at the UCLA School of Law and Faculty Director of the Promise Institute for Human Rights; Peter Beinart, journalist, Professor of Journalism and Political Science at CUNY, and author of The Beinart Notebook; and Andrew Boyle, Counsel at the Brennan Center for Justice and author of Checking the President’s Sanctions Powers.

This event is produced in partnership with New York University’s John Brademas Center.

Speakers:

• Hina Shamsi, Director of the ACLU’s National Security Project
• Asli Bâli, Professor of Law at the UCLA School of Law and Faculty Director of the Promise Institute for Human Rights
• Peter Beinart, journalist, Professor of Journalism and Political Science at CUNY, and author of The Beinart Notebook
• Andrew Boyle, Counsel at the Brennan Center for Justice and author of Checking the President’s Sanctions Powers