Debate question: should the president be able to declare building a wall on the southern border as a national emergency? (in doing so, he would be allowed to use money from the military budget to build the wall and avoid congressional oversight)yes1.2.no1.2.

No, and the reason is the grave danger such power poses to American Democracy, however oligarchic and imperfect it may be. It is entirely the President’s discretion what to define as a “national emergency”.  The National Emergencies Act of 1976 gives the POTUS access to about a 123 cases where he can declare a national emergency. And with a divided Congress there will be no oversight of how he chooses to use such powers.

The proposed wall does constitute a controversial executive proposal for a very real and pervasive problem: illegal immigration into the US. However it does not yet seem to constitute a national emergency but a particular provision might be invoked, the “50 U.S. Code § 191 - Regulation of anchorage and movement of vessels during national emergency”. It states:

"Whenever the President by proclamation or Executive order declares a national emergency to exist by reason of actual or threatened war, insurrection, or invasion, or disturbance or threatened disturbance of the international relations of the United States, or whenever the Attorney General determines that an actual or anticipated mass migration of aliens en route to, or arriving off the coast of, the United States presents urgent circumstances requiring an immediate Federal response”

However, it actually applies to vessels and not to masses of illegal aliens. Attorneys will have a happy time arguing over it.

political parties are protected under 6th amendment.