The state of exception is the political point at which the juridical stops, and a sovereign unaccountability begins; it is where the dam of individual liberties breaks and a society is flooded with the sovereign power of the state.
This is Leland de la Durantaye's interpretation of Agamben's analysis of states of exception in nations. Agamben was in turn reacting to Carl Schmitt's notion. Schmitt is the notable Nazi legal and political theorist who laid the legal groundwork for the "state of exception" that permitted the atrocities that regime is known for. Schmitt was later convicted for the role he played in enabling these atrocities and prevented from ever participating in legal or academic life again. His ghost lingers, it would seem.
"Exception" can be read as "emergency" if you like. It is no accident that some of the concerning things happening in the US right now--the deportations in particular, but also
the tariffs--are being done under the authority of a state of emergency. It's notable Trump claimed "America’s sovereignty is under attack" with respect to the emergency he declared to justify his administration's anti-immigration actions (my emphasis). According to
Axios, 9 states of emergency have been declared in 2025, one by Biden, significantly more than any other year in recent US history. And it's only April.
It is also noteworthy that the US Congress and the Democratic party specifically has repeatedly failed to revoke these "emergency" powers in spite of having the power to do so, going so far as to voluntarily give up some of their own power. The National Emergency Powers Act was explicitly passed to put guardrails on the use of emergency powers. The stopgap funding bill that was recently passed apparently contained language stripping Congress of some of the powers that act confers--yet several US Democrats voted for it. These members not only chose not to exercise this power, they willingly gave it up.
I think at this point it's fair to edit Trump's statement: America’s Trump's unaccountable sovereignty is not under attack.
#USPol
