Legal experts were alarmed on Thursday as the latest "laughable" legal theory put forward by President Donald Trump's allies seemed to move closer to becoming law.
The Trump administration has been circulating a draft executive order that would federalize the U.S. election process in the event of a national emergency, The Washington Post reported. Even though the legal theory underpinning the order is "far from irrefutable," Anna Bower and Molly Roberts, senior editors at Lawfare, argued in a new article that "bits and pieces" of the order could still become law.
"Whether or not Trump is considering the precise recommendations the Post describes, the recent story is only the latest indication that he and the people around him view the declaration of a national emergency—related to national security—as a possible way to exert more control over elections," Bower and Roberts wrote. "And while the contours of such a ploy remain unclear, there’s enough information available today to get a sense of what authorities the White House might invoke to try to pull it off."
One of the most recent events that could give Trump reason to attempt to invoke the executive order is the war in Iran. Since the U.S. and Israel began bombing the country last weekend, the FBI has warned about Iranian drone attacks on U.S. soil, according to reports.
